Policy for the appointment of professional consultants

This policy is intended to guide Council, and those to whom Council has delegated the power, in the placing of contracts for the supply of external professional services. It also applies to the appointment of the University’s external auditors by Court. The purpose of the policy is to ensure that each appointment or contract provides best value for the University, complies with public procurement policy and the law, is made at arms length in a fully transparent manner, and minimises the risk of fraud.

In this policy “must” denotes a mandatory requirement; “should” a requirement that must be implemented unless there are good reasons, which are fully documented, not to do so, and “may” a recommendation that you may choose not to follow.

If you intend to appoint, or are responsible for appointing external consultants, and have the necessary internal approvals under the University’s Financial Regulations:-

1. You should first contact the appropriate Division in Central Services. There may well be internal expertise available. The only circumstances where you need not do this is where a conflict of interest would arise e.g. you are auditing the quality of internal services.
2. For very small jobs where the total cost is unlikely to exceed £5,000 you may seek single bids, but you must make adequate checks, keep adequate records and use the appropriate University terms and conditions.
3. Where the likely total cost of the services will exceed £5,000, you should seek at least three bids. You must use a common “statement of requirements”.
4. If the total cost is likely to exceed £25,000, you should follow a tendering process. The Purchasing Department will advise you how to do this.
5. If you expect to incur a spend of £144,371 or more in any twelve month period over the life of the Contract, it is likely that the Public Contracts Regulations will apply (some services are not covered by the Regulations). The regulated services include banking and financial services as well as more traditional professional services. Accordingly you must seek advice at an early stage from Purchasing Department whether the Regulations apply and whether the proposed appointment or contract will be subject to “full” or “limited” public procurement requirements. If the public procurement process has to be followed, you must ask Purchasing Department to conduct the process, given their extensive experience in this field. Note the public procurement process imposes a ‘lead time’ of typically 5 months.
6. You must not break appointments down into smaller packages to avoid compliance with the University’s requirements or the public procurement process.
7. Where, in the past, there has been a tradition of always placing contracts for a particular expertise with the same consultant (e.g. using the same firm of solicitors for intellectual property advice or using the same head-hunters on senior appointments searches) i.e. ‘repeat’ arrangements, or, if you intend to enter into new ‘repeat’ arrangements, you must appoint an appropriate consultant or consultants to a “framework” agreement enabling you to call for their services as required, and you must follow this policy in making that appointment.
8. When seeking bids or tenders, you must define the “statement of requirements” (nature, duration and terms) of the appointment or contract and the criteria for the selection of the contractor in advance. In some cases something similar to a job description will be appropriate. The statement of requirements must define the responsibilities of the consultant and of the University. You must write appropriate levels of professional indemnity insurance into the criteria and verify them within the appointment process.
9. The University has in-house professional expertise in many fields. You should involve suitably qualified in-house professionals in writing the specification and valuing the level of professional indemnity insurance. You should ensure that the in-house professionals participate in the selection process; in particular to challenge the claimed competence of bidders.
10. You must ensure that at least one individual with no interest in the appointment or contract participates in all stages of the selection process to ensure fairness and transparency and as a protection against fraud.
11. You must record the process of evaluating bids against the “statement of requirements” and the criteria and keep the record.
12. To ensure value for money and to prevent fraud or inadequate performance, you should not make appointments for longer than three years. In exceptional cases and following a full review, you may extend appointments to five years. But all appointments must end after five years and be followed by a re-tendering process. You must review “rolling” appointments (e.g. auditors) after three years and re-tender them after five years. If the Public Contracts Regulations apply framework appointments cannot be for longer than four years.

Notes on the Policy for the appointment of professional consultants.