UiA has established binding framework agreements for the procurement of products and services.
Whenever you wish to purchase a product or a service covered by such a framework agreement, you must order it from the supplier in question.
Shortcuts
These legal requirements ensure that we efficiently use the taxpayers' resources and that we live up to the societal expectations with regard to our integrity in any commercial dealings. That is why the university must adhere to basic principles related to competition, impartiality, predictability, verifiability, and proportionality.
Procurements below 100 000 NOK exclusive VAT
The organisation unit or faculty is responsible for any purchase below this amount. You must never forget to check whether the university has entered a framework agreement for the product or service you intend to order.
The procurement of products and services with a total value of less than 100 000 NOK ex VAT is not covered by the Public Procurement Act and Regulations requirements. However, we should still promote efficient use of society's resources and act under the essential competition and impartiality principles.
We recommend the following procedure:
- Send an email to the potential suppliers and request a price offer for the goods or services you wish to purchase. Define very clearly what services or goods you would like a price offer for to receive offers for the same goods or services. Make sure to give a deadline for the receipt of the price offer. Remember also to include a delivery address in case of the purchase of goods.
- Attach the General Conditions for Purchase of Goods and Services of UiA to your email, and mention that these conditions are valid. By doing so, you ensure our rights concerning guarantees, complaints, delivery conditions etc.
- When all offers have arrived, you need to evaluate which supplier has put forward the best offer. Usually, the person who has requested the product/service is best suited to evaluate the offers.
- Send an email to all companies that have delivered an offer and inform them shorty whether their offer was accepted or not. It demonstrates good professional business conduct to give feedback in either case, which the supplier will appreciate. Remember that you are not allowed to reveal the price offer you received from one supplier to any other suppliers.
- Archive any relevant documentation in the archive system.
- The order must be sent electronically via our ordering system. Fill out the payment scheme or contact the person responsible for ordering at your unit or faculty.
Usually, it is unnecessary to prepare a contract for any procurement below 100 000 NOK ex. VAT. The order itself and the written correspondence between the parties is sufficient.
Procurements above 100 000 NOK exclusive VAT
When the decision to proceed with the procurement of a product or service is taken, the procurement office must be contacted. Usually, the procurement will proceed by public tender.
Fill out the form Registration of new procurement and send it to the procurement office
Contracts and contract administration
The contract administrator is responsible for the contract follow-up. This person must put aside sufficient time and resources to ensure that UiA meets all requirements. The decision on who will be the contract administrator is taken at the beginning of the procurement process. The procurement office can assist with this if needed.
After the contract is signed, a need for changes in the contract may arise. Any changes in contract agreements are also regulated in the Act and Regulations on Public Procurement. As the main principle, it is not possible to make any changes of essential nature in the contract. This principle is most strictly applied in part III of the Regulations involving contracts with a total value of 1,3 million NOK or above exclusive VAT. The procurement office will assess whether a change is essential or not.
Research and Development services (R&D)
In general, all procurement of goods and services is regulated under the Act and Regulations on Public Procurement. However, some exemptions from these regulations are valid under certain conditions. One relevant exemption for universities is when entering a contract relating to research and development services.
We must first assess whether a fundamental R&D element is involved for every such case. The contract itself should also aim to achieve something that is not already available on the market. Further, UiA should not be the sole party funding the R&D service, nor should UiA be the sole party profiting from the service. All involved parties must enter a contractual agreement.
Please note that only the procurement office can assess whether the exemption for R&D services is valid. Therefore, you must contact us at the early stages of the planning phase to perform this assessment.
Externally funded projects
Also, when the university receives resources from externally funded projects, such as the EU or NFR, the Act and Regulations for Public Procurement is valid. This means that procurement of products and services in such projects generally must be exposed to competition. Any transactions between project participants do not have to follow these rules, and these are also exempt from VAT. A prior condition, in this case, is that the roles of Project Owner and Project Partners are already clearly defined in the application for project funding. For example, suppose a third party is mentioned as a participant in the application but not listed as a Partner. In that case, this third party's service must be exposed to competition unless other exemptions from the regulations can be applied.
Please note that only the procurement office can assess whether any exemptions are valid. Therefore, you must contact us at the early stages of the planning phase to perform this assessment.
Contact with the market
You may contact suppliers on the market to get to know and stay up to date on the products available and the situation on the market before any procurement. You must mention why you contact them, and you should inform the supplier that there may be conducted a procurement process. Moreover, please remember that you should follow the principle of impartiality when dealing with suppliers. One example of impartiality is that all suppliers should receive the same information on what we need so that none have any competitive advantages when submitting their offer. Also, for confidentiality reasons, you must remember that any information you receive from one supplier should not unreservedly be transmitted to other suppliers.
You should not contact the market while the tender process is ongoing. During this phase, only the procurement office may communicate with the suppliers.
Complaints and guarantees
When you have received the products or services, you should check as soon as possible whether it corresponds to what was ordered. If not, you should immediately inform the supplier in writing (put forward a complaint). Depending on the reason for the complaint, a new delivery, a price reduction, an upgrade etc. can be demanded.
Should the product stop functioning during the guarantee period, please contact the supplier and demand that the product is repaired or replaced with a new product. According to the General Conditions for Purchase of Goods and Services of UiA, we have a 2-year guarantee period.
Contact
- geir.stokke@uia.no
- Phone
- +47 38 14 19 55
- ivar.paulsen@uia.no
- Phone
- +47 38 14 11 11