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Tender & Quotation Process: 

Under the EU Procurement Directives, every two years ‘threshold values’ are established, over which each public institution is required to ensure that their requirements are open to European Competition and follow a clearly defined process as detailed in the EU directives.  Procurement below these threshold values is conducted in line with Irish Government procurement guidelines ensuring that the procurement treaty principles of Non Discrimination, Equal Treatment, Transparency, Mutual Recognition and Proportionality are adhered to.  Below the Irish Government threshold values, the individual institution i.e. the University is responsible for determining its best practice procurement process taking cognisance of treaty principles and government and EU rules. 

The Procurement and Contracts office is required to be involved with all purchases to ensure competitive tendering processes are carried out under the Department of Finance Guidelines and EU Directives.

Please see the Public Procurement Guidelines for further details on the tender process.

Single Source:

On rare occasions there may be only one supplier of a particular item and no alternative is available ("sole source"). Sometimes an item has to be purchased from a particular supplier, usually to ensure compatibility with existing goods or servicing arrangements ("single source"). In absolute emergencies there may not be time to seek competitive bids. If any of the forgoing occurs, staff should make a full, written justification for approval by the Head of Department for the decision not to seek competitive bids to the Procurement Office prior to raising a requisition. Such approvals must be retained on the record for six years after the end of the financial year in which they occurred.  The only viable way in which to provide evidence that a supplier is a ‘sole source’ is to search the market by issuing a tender notification on eTenders website.