A Negotiated Agreement is an arrangement agreed between the buyer(s) and the seller(s) without going through a formal competitive tendering process.

CPC have a few arrangements that were entered into through dialogue with the relevant suppliers to negotiate the offer. This has been done where aggregated member requirements are unlikely to exceed procurement regulation thresholds or where there is little evidenced appetite amongst our members for a particular requirement so to test the market place prior to running a full tender if usage increases.

  1. CPC identifies the products / services where a potential negotiated agreement might be developed, or CPC are approached by a supplier in an emerging market
  2. CPC researches the potential suppliers and contacts them about the product or services required and invite them to a meeting after carrying out the necessary basic supplier(s) checks.
  3. All the requirements and protocols are discussed at the meeting and a proposal is developed by the supplier.
  4. The supplier offerings are carefully analysed by CPC and negotiated further if required.
  5. When appropriate CPC accepts the offer and the supplier set up processes are completed.
  6. The suppliers are launched on the CPC website with all the information attached to their supplier page including agreed pricing, where applicable.
  7. The Contract Manager involved with the negotiations with the suppliers(s) monitors the agreement on a regular basis to make sure things are happening as they should, and takes action where required.

Institutions that wish to access CPC negotiated agreements for their purchases should follow their own relevant financial procedures before placing an order with a supplier directly in the case of a single supplier negotiated agreement. Where there are several suppliers on the agreement members should compare the pricing for simple requirements and select the best value, while ensuring their own financial procedures are followed. Where a pricelist is not available or for bespoke requirements CPC recommends that the members get a quote from all the suppliers on the agreement by using our 'Get a Quote' tool via our website or contact the suppliers directly by using the contact details listed on each of the supplier pages where a particular negotiated agreement does not appear on 'Get a Quote' tool, also ensuring that their own financial procedures are followed.

Please ensure that you let the supplier know that you are a CPC member to get the CPC preferential rates.

Following are reasons to support a negotiated agreement:

  1. A method of hopefully obtaining value for money.
  2. It is flexible and not prescriptive.
  3. It is inexpensive to undertake.

The following summarises the main differences between a Framework agreement and a Negotiated agreement:

Framework Agreement Negotiated Agreement
It is compliant with public sector procurement regulations. It is not compliant with public sector procurement regulations.
It is easy to manage the suppliers in line with the overarching terms agreed under the framework. There is less control over the suppliers as there are no comprehensive terms and the terms agreed with each supplier could vary.
Suppliers have been vetted and approved using a robust process at the tendering stage. There is reduced supplier screening and supplier approval process.
Increases competition and offers best value as all the supplier work from the same terms. Enables competition and use of it may lead to an EU Tender being developed.
It is an audited process. There is little or no audit history available.
The products / service quality is assured and in case anything went wrong CPC contract managers are here to help. CPC cannot guarantee 100% products / service assurance but CPC contract managers are here to help.
Free user guidance on accessing the framework available and any further queries can be directed to the CPC contract managers. No user guide available. Any queries can be directed to the relevant CPC contract managers.
It is a prescriptive process. It is an inexpensive process.
Resilient process of obtaining value for money A method of hopefully obtaining value for money

Please note: CPC is currently moving away from negotiated agreements and will be replacing these with Framework agreements over time where this is possible. However, the requirement to build up the expenditure details (where this is unknown) before going out to tender or smaller spend on certain products or services may maintain a negotiated agreement for the time being.