6.8 Procurement

The NGB should have a Procurement Policy to ensure that:

• Expenditure is properly planned, authorised and in line with budget proposals
• Purchases are competitively priced, quality driven and sourced from reliable suppliers with the relevant technical expertise
• Purchasing practices are streamlined, consolidated and where possible, improved on
• Stocks are kept to a workable minimum
• Staff are encouraged to utilise the existing suppliers put in place by the NGB to obtain value for money and better quality and service. This should also lead to a reduction in the number of suppliers to the NGB, thereby making savings in administrative time and costs
• The NGB's procurement policies and procedures are known and observed by all staff involved in purchasing goods and services
• All expenditure must be approved and authorised (as per agreed levels of authorisation)
• Only goods or services ordered are accepted and recorded
• Expenditure is accurately recorded and allocated in the accounts system
• Payments are only generated for goods and services which have been received
• Creditors are managed effectively and efficiently
• Staff are aware that the auditors of the NGB have full, free and unrestricted access to all procurement records within the NGB. The Treasurer should ensure that complete records are available for inspection at all times.

See Appendix 2 for an outline of the Procurement Process and Appendix 3 for a Template for a Purchase Order form, which might be adopted for use by a NGB.