Cleaning Chemicals, Soap & Sanitisers

Commercial Services is one of the largest trading organisations of its kind in the UK with a turnover currently in excess of £600m pa and employing over 800 people from its base in Kent. With its Schools Supplies Division set up nearly 70 years ago by Kent County Council, it has grown organically since then to supply an ever-increasing range of best value goods and services to other publicly funded organisations. These include local government, education establishments, the care sector and emergency services. KCS is a trading unit of Commercial Services and provides a purchasing, warehousing and distribution service to a wide ranging customer base within local government and associated public bodies in Kent, neighbouring counties and across the UK. Kent County Council (the Council) is the largest local authority in England covering an area of 3,500 square kilometres. It has an annual expenditure of over £1bn on goods and services and a population of 1.3m. The Council provides a wide range of personal and strategic services on behalf of its residents, operating in partnership with 12 district councils and 289 parish/town councils. The Eastern Shires Purchasing Organisation (ESPO) is a Local Authority purchasing and distribution consortium jointly owned by Leicester City Council, Peterborough City Council and by the County Councils of Leicestershire, Lincolnshire, Warwickshire, Cambridgeshire and Norfolk. ESPO was established by the Member Authorities to provide a comprehensive procurement and supply service to their spending departments and other eligible customers. ESPO has an annual turnover of approximately £600m across a whole range of goods and services purchased on behalf of its customers. The Central Buying Consortium (CBC) is a group of County, Borough and City Councils. The purpose of which is to improve the effectiveness, by co-ordination, of local authority purchasing with the object of effecting savings in public expenditure for the benefit of its members. CBC procures approximately £750m goods and services per annum. In accordance with best procurement practice, EU and UK Procurement Directives and Regulations, the CBC and ESPO, through KCS, wishes to create a Framework Agreement (the Agreement) for the supply and delivery of Cleaning Chemicals, Soap and Sanitisers.

Additional information: This opportunity will be completed electronically via ProContract, a site run by Due North. Interested organisations should go to www.kentbusinessportal.org.uk to register and express interest. Once you have successfully expressed interest via the portal you will be sent an email directing you to the ProContract site from which you will be able to access and download the invitation to tender documentation and any other relevant information. This email should be retained, as it will contain your direct link to the ProContract portal, for information purposes only the link is www.kentbusinessportal.org.uk/procontract/supplier.nsf DO NOT USE THIS LINK NOW. Tenderers should also note that final submissions must be made via ProContract, no other submission route is permitted. Failure to follow this path will result in the tender submission being disregarded. Any questions or clarifications must be submitted through the ProContract portal no later than 17th April 2015. The Contracting Authority will endeavor to answer all questions and clarification requests prior to the submission date, however those received after the 17th April 2015 may not be answered. ALL DOCUMENTS PERTAINING TO THIS OPPORTUNITY WILL BE AVAILABLE FOR DOWNLOAD VIA THE PROCONTRACT PORTAL FROM THE OUTSET. Please ensure you are able to download all files immediately after accessing the ProContract portal. United Kingdom Those Authorities or buying organisations that will be using the Agreement from the outset are: Hertfordshire County Council Hampshire County Council Commercial Services (via KCS) - a wholly owned business of Kent County Council ESPO Other