General Information
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What are the benefits of using EEM?
Procurement services
EEM offers a wide range of compliantly procured Frameworks and DPS's covering most aspects of repairs and maintenance projects. Our procurement routes are created by our experienced and CIPS-qualified procurement professionals. We provide access to suitably qualified and accredited, financially stable providers with trusted references and relevant sector experience.Cost and efficiency savings
Members benefit from the mass buying power achieved by EEM compliantly procuring goods and services on behalf of all members. Using EEM means that members do not need to run their own lengthy procurement processes which results in cost and efficiency savings.Project Support
The EEM team will provide comprehensive support throughout the set up and duration of your project and will supply and draft your relevant form of contract.Community donations
As a not-for-profit organisation, EEM chooses to distribute our surplus to members in the form of Community Donations. Read more about Community Donations.Reporting & Invoice Validation
For material purchasing, members will receive a monthly spend report and we will validate what has been invoiced to ensure members are charged the agreed EEM prices.Price File Management
EEM maintains up-to-date price files with the latest products at competitive prices. We regularly meet with manufacturers to negotiate and agree price increases for the next financial year.Events & Training
We offer regular training sessions on legislation, compliance, and procurement law updates for our members. Additionally, we host networking events and an annual charity award ceremony. -
What are the costs and fees involved in working with EEM?
Membership to EEM is free for all public sector organisations wishing to make cost and efficiency savings in their procurement activities.
The EEM model is extremely transparent. We generate our operating costs by taking a small commission directly from the supply chain. This commission is already built into the rates that members pay which makes the whole purchasing process extremely simple.
Our commission rates:
Materials: 1%
Annual service contracts under £1 million: 1.5%
Annual service contracts between £1 million and £2 million: 1%
Annual service contracts over £2 million: 0.5% -
What is a procurement framework?
A procurement framework is a fully compliant agreement with material or service providers that sets pre-agreed terms and conditions and price and quality levels for the duration of the programme (usually four years) and then providers are invited to deliver the specification when required. Frameworks take significant time and resources to establish and they enable buyers to purchase goods and services without running their own full and lengthy tendering exercises.
Our frameworks are procured with the potential aggregated spend of all our members which helps to achieve some of the lowest rates in the country. Prices are generally established during the initial framework tender stage and any additional prices required for specific projects will be confirmed during the call-off process.
Minimum standards are laid out within the documents so members can simply ‘call-off’ from the framework and add their own requirements to suit their specific projects. Members can call-off from the framework by running a mini-competition which usually takes 4-6 weeks or if their internal procedures allow, they can compliantly select a providers directly.
Each of our frameworks run for four years and providers cannot be added to the arrangement during this period. If a member wishes to call-off from the framework towards the end of its life span, it is compliant for the contract to run for a 2-5 years after the end date, depending on the framework in question.
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What is a Dynamic Purchasing System (DPS)?
A Dynamic Purchasing System (DPS) is a flexible, efficient, and compliant method for procuring goods, services, and works, similar to a framework but allowing new suppliers to join at any time. Suppliers benefit from a simplified application process, needing only to submit standard procurement documents, which helps smaller suppliers participate. DPS allows members to award contracts by inviting all relevant providers to tender and conducting a mini-competition process.
Information For EEM Members
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Can EEM help me save money on the materials we buy?
We hope so! EEM has agreed prices with leading merchants and manufacturers for the supply of materials and estimate that savings made are in the region of 20%*. To achieve this we work closely with manufacturers to secure lower prices for Social Housing Providers and the public sector; and through our established relationships with the distributors we ensure that the agreed prices are the prices you are charged.
If you want to find out what savings EEM could achieve for your organisation our in Supply Chain Team will price a basket of goods via our supply chain to compare to the value from your current provider. There is no cost for this service.
*Typical savings demonstrated in benchmarking exercises completed; in a market comparison exercise for key products (included boilers; alarms; showers; heating controls; taps) savings to RRP were shown to be around 40%
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How are Community Donations calculated and distributed to members?
As a not-for-profit organisation, EEM chooses to distribute all operating surplus to the membership in the form of Community Donations. These donations are split proportionally between members based on their spend through the EEM frameworks. We also offer a bonus for members that use our services for the first time. The only stipulation is that the donation is spent on a project that benefits a community and is not something that member budgets should cover as standard.
Since 2014 over £2.6 million has been donated through this scheme.
Find out more about our Community Donations scheme -
How can i call off from a DPS?
During the call-off stage all qualifying providers on the DPS in the appropriate category and geographical areas will be invited to tender for the opportunity.
Members may divide their requirements into categories or “lots” depending on their requirement and the type of provision that is required. This will be identified within the mini-competition documentation.
STAGE 1
For each mini tender there will be a call for Expressions of Interest (EOI). Qualifying providers will be invited to review the opportunity and then either opt in or opt out. If opting out, a sufficient reason must be posted.STAGE 2
Should there be a large number of opt in responses to an EOI then we may recommend that a sifting stage take place. This will generally take the form of qualitative questions being answered and then scored by the member. This will reduce the number of bidders to a manageable figure. The format and questions will be outlined within the sifting brief.STAGE 3
The Invitation to Tender will include the full tender document set including pricing and employers’ requirements etc. and will result in the award of the contracts. -
How can I call-off from an EEM Framework?
Our aim is to keep the call-off process as simple as possible.
Most frameworks are available to call-off from via direct award or mini-competition and either option is fully compliant with the terms of the framework agreement. Members direct awarding via our frameworks will need to ensure the award is compliant with any internal regulations and procedures their organisation has.
For a direct award call-off, we will arrange and attend a meeting with you and your proposed material or service provider. Providers must confirm framework prices, scope of works and accept the terms of the call-off. We will help manage the direct selection process to make sure the provider is applying terms of the framework correctly.
For a mini-competition call-off, the first stage would be for EEM to issue an ‘expression of interest’ request to all providers within the relevant work stream and geographical location for your project. Members can then choose whether they would like EEM to run the procurement process for them or carry it out in-house, with our support. All our mini competitions are managed through a secure portal and usually run on a price and quality basis. During a tender period, we manage all queries, ensuring a transparent process. Returned submissions are made available to the member for evaluation and final selection. A member of our Member Support Team will then arrange and attend a kick start meeting with the successful material or service provider.
For both processes, once a provider is selected, EEM can complete the standard form of contract and provide ongoing support throughout the contract period.
Information For Supply Chain
Prior To Working With EEM
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I work for a manufacturing company – how can EEM members buy my product?
EEM wish to provide members with the products they require – so if there is demand for your product/s and the merchants on our frameworks can supply then we can work with you to get prices agreed and a supply route in place for the member organisation.
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How much work can successful contractors expect to secure?
All EEM framework and DPS arrangements are actively used, but we don’t always know what our members have in their procurement pipeline. We can guarantee that tender opportunities will always be offered to all successful contractors in the relevant geographical lots and work streams. If a contractor participates in a mini-competition and is unsuccessful we will provide feedback where available and appropriate to help them in future opportunities.
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I am a contractor – can I buy material goods via EEM?
Yes, contractors may purchase directly via the EEM supply chain but only for contracts you have with EEM members. In order to protect our contract terms you will be asked to sign an agreement and provide information about the contracts and members the purchases are for.
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How can suppliers join an EEM framework or DPS?
We advertise opportunities to join an EEM framework on websites such as Find a Tender (FTS) when we are creating a new opportunity, or a current framework is approaching the end of it’s life span (usually every 4 years). Providers may join a DPS at any time during the DPS term. The Find a Tender (FTS) advert remains open on the relevant websites throughout the DPS life span.
Providers may wish to find the framework(s) that suits them best on our framework pages and hit the button to request to be notified when the next opportunity to join arises.
Some of our frameworks require contractors to be able to cover a wide variety of works. If your organisation only covers one small aspect of works required, we recommend that you contact our current successful contractors to enquire about sub-contracting opportunities.
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What are the benefits of being on an EEM framework?
Being on an EEM frameworks allows our material and service suppliers to guide public sector clients towards a simple, quick and compliant route to market without the need for them to run their own lengthy procurement processes.
Successful suppliers on EEM frameworks may be awarded numerous projects throughout the life span of the framework without the need to conduct a full tender application for each one which saves the time and money.
Suppliers will benefit from support from EEM throughout the set up and duration of contracts and we will attend meetings as a neutral party if any disputes arise. We will also arrange contractor review meetings to ensure all contracts are running smoothly and we can understand any issues.
We avoid adding large numbers of suppliers to our frameworks to ensure that those who are awarded have a higher probability of securing contracts. If a member chooses to call off from an EEM framework, suppliers are competing against a smaller number of competitors than if a member were to run their own procurement process.
Our pre-vetting and due-diligence processes provide members with assurance that they will be selecting suitably qualified and accredited, financially stable suppliers with trusted references and relevant sector experience.
After Joining An EEM Framework Or DPS
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How do material and service providers pay commission to EEM?
We are open and honest about our commission fees which are built into the rates that members are invoiced and invoiced directly from our material and service providers.
We have worked hard to reduce costs and find efficiencies in our service delivery to enable a reduction in our materials commission from 6% in 2014 to just 1% since 2017.
Our commission rates:
Materials – 1%
Annual service contracts under £1 million: 1.5%
Annual service contracts between £1 million and £2 million: 1%
Annual service contracts over £2 million: 0.5%Material and service providers must include for the commission within any rates submitted within a call-off or during a pricing exercise at the relevant percentage stated above. The commission will not be recoverable from the member and the provider will still be liable to pay if it is found they have omitted to include the correct rate.
Any variations or additional rates agreed during the call off contract period must also include the applicable commission percentage.
EEM will send an email to providers on a monthly basis requesting a declaration of commission owed for the previous month. Once the statement has been received and validated by EEM, an invoice will be raised to the provider in respect of the commission due plus the relevant VAT element. Payment terms are 30 days from the date of invoice. Please be aware that EEM continually monitors the commission received against the expected values and will undertake spot checks with members to verify the amounts declared.
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How can suppliers maximise the opportunity of being on an EEM framework?
Our most successful suppliers are those who actively engage with EEM and our members to promote their place on the framework.
Being on an EEM framework allows suppliers to provide public sector clients with a simple, quick and compliant route to market without the need for them to run their own lengthy procurement processes. EEM is happy to accompany contractors to meetings with potential clients to explain the simple and efficient procurement route available to them.
Suppliers may wish to list training offerings or factory tours on the EEM website. Please contact to discuss this.
Involvement in events such as the Building Communities Awards via entering or sponsoring is an excellent opportunity for brand exposure to the EEM membership and supply chain. Please visit www.bc-awards.co.uk for further information.