Guidance

GetBuying for schools: get free help buyingfrom forprocurement schoolsspecialists

FreeThe and impartial advicehelp and guidanceadvice from Department for Education (DfE) procurement specialists for all state-funded schools in EnglandEngland. on buying goods and services.

Applies to England

The specialists and what they can offer

The getDfE ‘Get help buying for schoolsschools’ service isincludes madea upteam of variousprocurement resourcesspecialists tothat helpcan save you buytime and money by offering free support when you’re buying any goods andor services efficientlyfor andyour compliantly.school.

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  • review your documents to accessmake itsure they’re complete and couldcompliant help- tothis saveincludes youadvice moneyon specification documents, tender documents and evaluation criteria
  • support you on choosing or using a framework agreement for your existingprocurement
  • advise contracts.

    when you need to seek legal advice

AdviceAdditional andhelp guidancefor complex or high value procurements

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  • requestspecialists advicemay andoffer guidanceto fromhelp ourrun procurementmore specialistscomplex whenor youhigh needvalue it;procurements. Some of the reasons they canmay adviseoffer andto givedo guidancethis onare:

    • when runningcontracts aare compliantlong procurementterm usingor amulti-year
    • you’re DfE-approvedbuying frameworkfor multiple schools
    • readthe guidancevalue onis buyingabove proceduresthe andpublic procurementcontracts lawregulations (PCR) threshold
    • the toprocurement learnrequires aboutinclusion of transferring personnel contracts under the stepsTransfer of procurementUndertakings and(Protection howof toEmployment) buyregulations compliantly(TUPE)
    • readyou’re guidancenew onor buyingnot goodsexperienced andin services,running suchthese astypes cateringof andprocurements
    • there furnitureare problems with supply or prices change regularly, for example energy costs
    • it’s challenging to find suppliers

    ToolsWorking with DfE to run a complex or high value procurement

    UseYou ourwill toolsneed to helpwork youclosely atwith specificyour stagesspecialist ofto make sure that your procurement.procurement is a success.

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what you need to do at each stage of your procurement to be compliant. Read more about the different routes to buying.

StayRequest uphelp toand datesupport

ToMake learna morerequest aboutfor help, advice or support with your procurement by using the get‘Get help buying for schoolsschools’ service,service.

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We will respond by email within 2 working days once you can:submit a request.

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    We @Buyingwill forusually Schoolsstay onin LinkedIncontact by email. Sometimes we may arrange a video call with you, for regularexample updatesif we want to talk with you about howsomething we’recomplicated, supportingor schoolswe want to makediscuss the mosthelp ofwe non-staffcan spend

  • readoffer.

    If ouryou buyingneed us to communicate with you in another way, you can let us know when you first make a request for schoolssupport.

    How bloglong tothe seeprocess takes

    The time a procurement process takes varies depending on what we’reyou’re workingbuying.

    It typically takes 6 months to run a procurement but can be longer if tasks are not done on nowtime, andor whatif we’rethe procurement is complex or high value. For example, if you’re doing next

  • emaila schools.commercial@education.gov.ukprocurement for multiple schools or if it requires a transfer of staff contracts. These types of complex procurements can take 12 months or longer.

    When a DfE specialist gets in touch, they will advise you haveon anyhow furtherlong questions

  • signyour upprocurement forcan emailstake.

    Depending abouton the latestprocess productsthat’s andright guidancefor your school, they may give you a timeline to getfollow.

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    We offer other tools and resources such as:

    Read the Buying for schools guidance to see what we offer.

Published 18 May 2022
Last updated 21 September 20222023 + show all updates
  1. Updated to include the latest information on the impartial help and advice available from Department for Education (DfE) procurement specialists for all state-funded schools in England.

  2. Added link to sign up for emails from DfE with the latest products and guidance on managing school resources.

  3. Updated the 'Stay up-to-date' section to remove an email address.

  4. First published.