Working with us

Benefits of doing business with us

The University of Leicester is a leading UK university committed to international excellence through the creation of world changing research and high quality, inspirational teaching. We would be a valuable high profile client to be referenced when endeavouring to win other contracts across the public and private sector.

We are a strong and stable organisation with a good record for paying its suppliers on time.

What we buy

As a large multi-disciplined research-intensive University, we spend £100m+ each year on goods and services as diverse as IT software, laboratory supplies, cleaning supplies, research equipment, consultancy services and large-scale construction.

How we buy

We are fair and transparent when buying goods and services. We follow the Public Contracts Regulations, as well as our own procurement rules that ensure appropriate levels of competition for lower value contracts.

We complete our contracts based on our standard terms and conditions - services version (Word docx., 105kb), not only to protect our interests (for example, in relation to data security), but also to ensure bids are evaluated on a consistent basis.

Our Purchase Order Ts&Cs v2.1 (Feb 2022) (Word docx., 68.5kb) apply to purchases not governed by a larger contract.

We benefit from efficiencies and economies of scale by being a member of the North Eastern Universities Purchasing Consortium (NEUPC), as well as from our close working relationship with Loughborough University with whom we have a joint Procurement Strategy.

At the same time, we have a Small and Medium-Sized-friendly enterprise procurement policy to guard against creating unnecessary barriers for smaller businesses interested in competing for our contracts.

We follow a 'No PO, No Pay' policy.

Identifying contract opportunities

We use the Delta eSourcing system for competing our £50k+ contracts. It is free for businesses to register on the system, which includes the facility for them to be notified of any relevant University contracts that are openly advertised.

Each quarter we publish an up-to-date list of University contracts (Excel, 55.5kb) to allow businesses to see potential contracts coming up for re-tender as well as subcontracting opportunities. The list should include all our £25k+ contracts but whilst every effort is made to ensure that it is up to date, there can be no guarantee that it is totally complete.

At present, the intention is to openly advertise the following contract opportunities via Delta, over the coming months:

Not just about price

We award contracts based upon the best overall bid; considering both price and quality. 

We are keen to realise wider sustainability benefits through our contacts. We require all of our suppliers to use the free-of-charge Net Zero Carbon Supplier Tool, to annually submit their emissions figure; where the tool helps those without a figure to calculate it (also providing a carbon reduction plan). For £100k+ contracts, we seek to gain and track social value commitments from suppliers via the Social Value Portal.

Any further enquiries should be sent to procurement@leicester.ac.uk.