Procurement of Goods and Equipment

DFID does not procure goods and associated services directly. The main reasons for this are a lack of internal resource, and an obligation to the Government to achieve value for money, transparency and probity.

In 2003, DFID ran a competition to select three DFID procurement agents to carry out purchasing duties in the UK and some overseas divisions, for DFID geographical desks, overseas offices, consultants and Technical Co-operation Officers (TCOs). The selected procurement agents are:

• The Crown Agents for Oversea Governments and Administrations Ltd
• Charles Kendall and Partners
• International Procurement Agency (IPA)

DFID uses an approved panel of professional Procurement Agents for the Procurement of Goods as they provide a range of specialist skills and expertise. All three Agents adhere to DFID’s policies and procedures, which contributes to the necessary separation of responsibilities for identifying needs, arranging procurement and authorising payment.

Where there has been a demand to do so, Procurement Group has run additional competitions to select Procurement Agents who have exclusive rights for almost all goods procurement in the relevant country. There are currently 4 core country contracts in place.

The DFID core countries are as follows:

Further advice and information about DFID procurement is available from:

Agnes O'Farrell, Senior Procurement Officer

Tel: +44 (0) 1355 84 3346 | Fax: +44 (0) 1355 84 3713

Email:a-ofarrell@dfid.gov.uk

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