Mid and West Wales Fire and Rescue Service is a public sector organisation which comes under the jurisdiction of the Welsh Government. Mid and West Wales Fire Authority acts as the main policy making body and governs the adoption of numerous working practices in line with statutory guidelines as laid down by the Welsh Assembly Government.
Mid and West Wales Fire and Rescue Service is organised into 3 Divisons, namely Southern, Western and Northern. Southern Division covers the unitary authority areas of Swansea and Neath Port Talbot, Western Division covers Carmarthenshire and Pembrokeshire and Northern Division covers Ceredigion and Powys.
Mid and West Wales Fire and Rescue Service purchases supplies, services and works that range in value from a few pounds to many hundreds of thousands and it spends an estimated £20m per annum on the supply of goods, services and works. This provides a wide range of commercial opportunities for suppliers and contractors of all types and sizes.
The Welsh Fire and Rescue Services' Procurement Strategy sets out the approach to procurement and applies to all procurement e.g. goods, services (including consultancy and research), works and construction (including capital schemes). Grant aided expenditure falls within the same remit and there are no exceptions. In pursuit of the strategy, individuals will act with integrity and honesty, secure value for money, encourage continuous improvement and seek innovative solutions where appropriate.
Mid and West Wales Fire and Rescue Service is committed to providing the best information possible about the opportunities that are available and the procedures that need to be followed to respond to tenders and requests for quotation in order to expel the barriers that can exist between suppliers/contractors and the public sector.
Day-to-day procurement within the Service has been devolved and budget managers are responsible for making purchases for their own departments, in line with Mid and West Wales Fire and Rescue Authority's scheme of financial delegation, and in accordance with contract standing orders, whereby budget managers have to ensure compliance.
There is also a corporate procurement department which is responsible for strategic procurement, ensuring that sustainability and wellbeing criteria are incorporated into the procurement process including economic, ethical and environmental factors. In addition, the function ensures that all procurement exercises consider the objectives of the Wellbeing of Future Generations (2015) Wales Act.
The Corporate Procurement function is committed to continuous development and delivery of best practice procurement in support of corporate objectives, aiming to manage change in the purchasing arena away from the traditional methods and providing innovative solutions in response to the ever increasing and diverse needs of the Service, whilst developing and implementing procurement strategy to deliver cost efficiency and savings.
Other areas of responsibility include:
Managing a network of suppliers, policy makers, partnerships and collaborative arrangements; Establishing and developing purchasing arrangements and processes; Monitoring of procurement compliance within the Service; Managing various projects from the outset to completion; Overseeing and managing contracts; Providing procurement advice and guidance when required; Providing contract management for certain areas of expenditure.
The Service deals with contracts of varying types from one-off purchases to contracts for supplies, services or works that will last for a specific period before coming up for renewal. In letting contracts Mid and West Wales Fire and Rescue Service ensures that it obtains the Most Advantageous Tender by choosing the bid or quotation that offers the optimum combination of whole life costs, quality and social value benefits to meet the requirements of the Service.
Effective procurement supports the Service's aim of providing high quality, value for money, sustainable services for the people of Mid and West Wales both now and in the future. However, not all our needs are met by purchasing directly ourselves. We also make use of collaborative contracts with other emergency services and other public sector organisations as well as entering into pre-tendered arrangements such as the Welsh Government's Commercial Delivery frameworks, pan government frameworks and other purchasing organisations (e.g. YPO, ESPO, NEPO etc).