Glossary of Terms                 C

 

CBC (Central Buying Consortium)

The Central Buying Consortium is the largest local authority purchasing consortium in the UK.

 

Cartels 

A group of suppliers acting illegally in concert to artificially influence the price and quantity of supply.

 

Call off contract

A contract made following a formal tendering process with one or more contractors, suppliers or service providers for a defined range of works, goods or services covering terms and conditions (including price) which users ‘call off’ to meet their requirements. See also ‘framework agreement’.

 

Collusion 

A fraudulent arrangement between two or more parties whereby prices or service requirements are manipulated to get round competitive tendering.

 

Commissioning

The process of acquiring services to meet the needs of the local population. Commissioning is done through the Local Authority, the Primary Care Trust, other public agencies, or by the private or voluntary sectors.

 

Competitive dialogue 

A variation of the negotiated process, now available under the new EU directives, which permits discussion of different options before choosing a particular solution. It can be used in complex contracts where technical solutions are difficult to define or where development of the best solution is wanted.

 

Competitive tendering 

Awarding contracts by the process of seeking competing bids from more than one firm.

 

Consortium 

An unincorporated group of firms or individuals, often formed to tender for a contract with a view to forming a company or working in some other way in the event of winning.

 

Constructionline

For public sector contracts in the construction industry. Constructiononline are the UK's register of local and national construction and construction related contractors and consultants. www.constructionline.co.uk

 

Consultant

An organisation or individual employed by the client for specific tasks, usually where specialist knowledge or objective review is required.

 

Contract

A binding agreement made between two or more parties, which is intended to be enforceable at law.

 

Contract award notice 

Notice of an award of a contract published in the Official Journal of the European Union (OJEU), in fulfilment of the requirements of EU public procurement directives.

 

Contract documents 

Documents incorporated in the enforceable agreement between the client and the contractor, including contract conditions, specification, pricing document, form of tender and the successful tenderer’s responses (including method statements), and all other relevant documents expressed to be contract documents (such as relevant correspondence, etc).

 

Contract notice

A notice published in the Official Journal of the European Union (OJEU) by contracting authorities, announcing expressions of interest or inviting companies to tender.

 

Contract value

The total monetary value of a contract over its full duration (not annual value).

 

Contractor 

An organisation or individual who has made a contract to undertake works, supply goods or provide services.

 

Cost plus 

The method of payment for contracts for which tenderers quote a lump sum or % addition to their costs (which would be reimbursed).

 

Common Procurement Vocabulary (CPV)

The numerical system of identifying goods and services in the tendering process. Also used as part of the e-procurement process to identify services offered by the tendering organisation.