Department for Children, Families and Schools
Selling to the Department

Useful procurement contacts

Below are contacts for our main commodity areas and procurement teams:

Recruitment Services
The Department recruits mainly permanent staff. There are times when we need to employ temporary staff via agencies, or engage specific expertise from specialist organisations. Many of the Department’s teams are responsible for their own personnel needs, so there may be specialist short-term opportunities within specific policy areas that we are not aware of. If you are interested in working with the Department to supply temporary or specialist resources, please contact;

For temporary agency staff enquiries: Recruitment & Interchange Unit telephone: 01928 794345

For specialist opportunities (such as consultancy services): National Contracts Team telephone: 01928 794494

For work in a particular area (such as Academies, research and so on) telephone the Public Communications Unit; 0870 000 2288

For all other recruitment enquiries: Personnel Helpline Telephone: 01928 794144

The Department’s Commercial & Procurement Services team undertakes its recruitment exercises with support from Human Resources. We do not employ specialist procurement recruitment agencies.

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Strategic Procurement Projects Team
Rachel MacAleese, Tel: 01325 392919
Vicki Hardman, Tel: 0114 259 1189

This team provides dedicated or ad hoc professional procurement advice, assistance and support for complex, high value or high risk consultancy and policy related projects. They also provide advice surrounding how best to deliver policy outcomes via third parties.

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Stakeholder Engagement & Consultancy Sourcing Team
Lynne Henderson, Tel: 01325 392756

This team has responsibility for sourcing consultants and interim personnel and for the central management of the Department's Consultancy Framework contracts for the provision of Management Consultancy Services. This includes management of the suppliers providing services under the framework contracts. As these frameworks end on 31 March 2008 the team are leading on work to develop Departmental wide specifications to feed into OJEU exercises to let new framework agreements for consultants and interim personnel.

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National Contracts Team
Estelle Groves, Tel: 01928 794372

The national contracts team is responsible for the provision of professional procurement support to Department staff wanting to establish or use national contracts. Also with lead responsibility for business travel services, desktop stationery, personalised printed stationery, water coolers, fax machines and photocopier contracts.

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Contract Management Advisory Team
Kelvin McBride, Tel: 0114 259 1334

The contract management advisory team is responsible for a range of contract management advice and guidance, liaison with non-departmental public bodies and the co-ordination of a procurement forum. This team also has responsibility for supplier management briefings and contract management training programmes for the Department. The team co-ordinates OGC value for money and statistical returns.

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IT Sourcing Team
Diane Scott, Tel: 01928 794423

The IT buying team is responsible for purchasing information technology (IT) products, systems and services for the Department. This includes hardware and software; corporate and administrative systems; network and infrastructure products and services; voice, video and telephony products and systems, and related maintenance and support. The IT Specialist Buying Service makes extensive use of the Office of Government Commerce (OGC) Framework Agreements to buy goods and services required by the Department. Information on how suppliers can be included on these frameworks can be found on the OGC website.

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Research Buying Unit
Dave Harp, Tel: 0114 259 4118.

The research buying unit is responsible for the Department’s research budget and for the planning, approval and commissioning of all projects funded from it. The printing and publishing of research reports and briefs. They hold and maintain a database of research contractors with information on services and specialisms and staff details. Also responsible for the database of external research, drawing together details of research funded by organisations outside the Department, linking to other similar databases.

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Media Sourcing Unit
Liz Rowlands, Tel: 0114 259 4160
Louise Hardy, Tel: 0114 259 3861

The Media Sourcing Team is responsible for the procurement of media related services, including exhibitions, conferences and publicity events, writing, editing, translation, design, printing (including recycled paper), distribution and storage of publications and visual materials and alternative formats, PR, binders, video production and photography which are procured from a wide range of suppliers.
They are responsible for tendering for the media requirement and managing the subsequent framework agreements and contracts with a range of external partners. The majority of services are tendered via the European Journal in compliance with the EU Directives, or through Government Opportunities.

The frameworks, of which there are several in each media category, are accessed on an ad-hoc basis when required. All framework agreements are open to our non-departmental public bodies and to other Government departments. Most frameworks run for three or four years.

Although subject to change due to changes in priorities, the schedule below shows when media areas are due to be re-tendered and advertised via the European Journal.

Suppliers will need to respond to the advertisement as detailed in the journal.

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Commercial Policy Team
Tel: 0114 259 4707

This team provides general commercial policy, procurement and contract advice, assistance and support. They are responsible for undertaking procurement initiatives on behalf of the Department and liaising with the Office of Government Commerce on Government-wide initiatives. They also have responsibility for the Government Procurement Card (GPC) and ensuring lower value purchasing within the Department is as cost effective and efficient as possible.

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Approaching local authorities
The simplest approach is to contact the authority directly and ask for details of their methods and requirements.
The Municipal Year Book on the Localgov website, lists the major consortia, providing contact points in councils throughout the country.
General queries on local authority tendering issues can be addressed to:

Local Government Competition and Quality Division
Office of the Deputy Prime Minister
5th Floor
Eland House
Bressenden Place
London SW1E 5DU
Tel: 020 7944 4145
 
Mr Rehan Haidar
Companies, Trading and Procurement Branch
Local Government Capacity and Modernisation Division
Office of the Deputy Prime Minister
Zone 3/H6
Eland House
Bressenden Place
London SW1E 5DU
Tel: 020 7944 5157

Further information can be found on OGC’s Supplying Government site.

General Procurement Enquiries
If you have a general procurement enquiry or can’t find the area you are interested in, please contact the Procurement Helpline on 0114 259 4707.

Other Enquiries
If you would like to contact a policy team directly to enquire about potential contract opportunities or have a general enquiry not covered by any of the above, please email the Public Communications Unit or via telephone: 0870 000 2288 or Fax: 01928 794248

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