Definitions and acronyms used in procurement: M - Z.
The following provide a list of general terms or abbreviations/acronyms used by the Council in procuring goods, works and services
MEAT - Most Economically Advantageous Tender (see definition below)
Method Statement (or Method & Resources Statement): See "Contractor’s Proposals"
Most Economically Advantageous Tender: A tender evaluated on the basis of Quality and Price
OJEC: see "OJEU"
OJEU: The Official Journal of the European Union (the publication was formally called Official Journal of the European Communities, hence OJEC). Contracts which fall within the EU threshold values & are not exempt categories must be advertised for tender by placing a notice in the OJEU. Current EU thresholds (excluding VAT) as at 1 January 2010 are as follows:
- Supplies £156,442 (€193,000)
- Services £139,839 (€193,000)
- Works £3,927,260 (€4,845,000)
[next scheduled revision date for EU thresholds - 1 January 2012)
PQQ: Pre-qualification questionnaire (also known as Supplier Questionnaire). Usually issued to people and organisations wishing to express an interest in tendering for works, goods or services or to join an "Approved List" (see definition of an Approved List).
Procurement: Buying or purchasing goods or services and taking into account the whole life costs. The acquisition by purchase, lease, rent, hire, transfer, loan or other legal means of the goods, services and works required and/or used by an organisation.
Quotation: The procurement process of inviting and evaluating bids from people and organisations to provide goods, works or services based upon the Council’s standard terms and conditions.
SLA: Service Level Agreement. This is sometimes used internally between council departments.
SLB: Small Local Business where there are less than 15 employees
SME: Small and Medium business Enterprises (the DTI definition of a small business is where there are no more than 50 employees and a medium size business is one where there are no more than 249 employees)
Specification: The document which we use to set out our requirements for the goods or services.
Supplier questionnaire: (see "PQQ")
Sustainability: The environmental issues to be considered.
Tender: The procurement process of inviting and evaluating sealed bids from people and organisations to provide goods, works or services.
Tender List: A list of Contractors or Suppliers selected from an Approved List or from responses to a Contract Notice and invited to submit their tender for a specific contract
Total Cost (also known as total aggregated value): The total cost of the overall requirement over the contract term. Individual or annual costs are irrelevant where goods, services or works are of the same type or have similar characteristics. The total cost of the contract must be used when deciding which process.
TUPE: Means the Transfer of Undertakings (Protection of Employment) Regulations 2006. The purpose of TUPE is to preserve continuity of employment and to safeguard employment rights of all employees whose employment transfers to a new employer as a result of a relevant transfer.
Page last updated: 10/03/2010
