The Planning Inspectorate (Wales) - ppu selling to pins

Procurement

The Planning Inspectorate has a specialist Procurement and Contracts Unit
(PCU) based at its Bristol headquarters. As a centralised support function,
PCU is responsible for procuring a wide and diverse range of commodities
and services ensuring that all procurement activity undertaken follows
best practice.

PCU seek to obtain best value for money. This means buying the items that best
match our needs, having regard to a number of factors, which may include
quality, service, delivery against price and whole life costs, including
maintenance, running and disposal costs.

PCU is committed to making it as easy as possible for existing and potential
suppliers to trade with PINS. We:

Aim to promote PCU as the primary point of focus for companies interested in doing business with the Agency.

Acquire goods and services via competition where appropriate.

Use a number of criteria when evaluating proposals to ensure value for money from suppliers.

Always provide feedback to assist both successful and unsuccessful suppliers;

Always act with honesty and integrity.

Liaise closely with Communities and Local Government (http://www.communities.gov.uk) and the Office of Government Commerce (OGC) (http://www.ogc.gov.uk/) –established to promote collaboration and improve procurement practices across Government.

Make extensive use of collaborative procurement (especially Catalist Frameworks).

About the Team

The Procurement team work collaboratively with the business and are the primary
point of contact for companies interested in doing business with the Inspectorate.

Team members:

Phil Taylor MCIPS
Head of Procurement

Tori Brunt
Procurement Manager

Sally Martin
Procurement Contracts Officer

Gemma Warren
Procurement Contracts Officer

General Contact details:

Code of Good Practice

The Office of Government Commerce (OGC) has developed and published a Code of Good Customer Practice for use by all Government purchasing organisations as well as all Suppliers dealing with those organisations.
This guidance code will assist you in understanding how we work and how you can successfully work with us.

http://www.ogc.gov.uk/documents/codeofcusprac.pdf

Freedom of Information Act 2000

Guidance for Suppliers

On 1 January 2005 The Freedom of Information Act 2000, this obliges public
authorities to divulge recorded information when requested to do so, came fully
into force. The Act is retrospective and covers all information held by us, or held
on behalf of us, at the time that a request is made, irrespective of when
the information was created. In practice, compliance with our statutory
obligations will mean being as open as possible when dealing with a request for
information. Suppliers to The Planning Inspectorate will understandably be
concerned about the effect of the Act on information supplied to us. However, we
are aware of the need to protect commercially sensitive information and certain
details – including trade secrets or information which if disclosed could prejudice
a person's commercial interests – are potentially exempt from disclosure. We will
seek to rely on those exemptions where it is appropriate for us to do so. There
are also specific exemptions for personal data, and information provided in
confidence whose disclosure would constitute an actionable breach of
confidence. The Planning Inspectorate suppliers need to be aware that each FoI
request received after 1 January 2005 will be considered on a case by case basis
in order to determine whether the information is disclosed under the Act. This
may involve weighing up the public interest in openness against the public
interest in protecting commercial confidences. Until we receive a request for
information it is not possible for us to state categorically that particular
information is exempt from disclosure.

The Act requires all public authorities to make information available through a
Publication Scheme and, in accordance with the Act, the scope of information we
hold is included in the publication scheme produced by our parent Department,
Communities and Local Government (CLG). The scheme specifies the categories
of information for publication and explains how to obtain that information. Further
details can be found on our web site, see Freedom of Information

We would recommend you to obtain your own legal advice about the effect
of the Act, but further information is available on these
websites:

http://www.foi.gov.uk/index.htm

http://www.ogc.gov.uk