List of central purchasing bodies in the United Kingdom

A "central purchasing body” is defined in the Public Contracts Regulations 2015 as "a contracting authority which provides centralised purchasing activities and which may also provide ancillary purchasing activities". The role of a central purchasing body, as defined in Regulation 37 of the regulations, is to support "the acquisition of supplies or services, or both, intended for contracting authorities", and "the award of public contracts or the conclusion of framework agreements [or dynamic purchasing systems] for works, supplies or services intended for contracting authorities".[3] The definitions are derived from Articles 2(1)(14) and 37 of the European Union's Directive on Public Procurement, Directive 2014/24/EU,[4] transposed into UK legislation in 2015.

The EU rules provide that a contracting authority may use the services of a central purchasing body located in another Member State, and should do so in accordance with the national procurement rules which apply where the central purchasing body is located.[5]

In the UK, central government organisations are required by HM Treasury guidance to use the Government Procurement Service (Crown Commercial Service) in its capacity as a central purchasing body.[6]

• Advanced Procurement for Universities and Colleges (APUC), established in 2007, provides central procurement services and expertise for the universities and colleges of Scotland. APUC is based in Stirling.[7]
• Crescent Purchasing Consortium (CPC), established in 1999, owned by the UK further education sector since 2009,[8] and based in Salford, offers framework agreements for the education sector, including colleges, schools and multi-academy trusts.[9]

Cabinet Office, London

• Crown Commercial Service (CCS), part of the Cabinet Office, claims to be "the biggest public procurement organisation in the UK".[10]
• ESPO, formally the Eastern Shires Purchasing Organisation, is a public sector-owned professional buying organisation established in 1981. It operates from a purpose-built warehouse and head office based in Leicester, England, adjacent to the M1, with a distribution centre in South Wales,[11] and is owned and managed by six English local authorities: Leicestershire County Council, Lincolnshire County Council, Cambridgeshire County Council, Norfolk County Council, Warwickshire County Council, and Peterborough City Council.[12] ESPO is one of four organisations which serve the local authorities of England and Wales, along with the Yorkshire Purchasing Organisation, North Eastern Purchasing Organisation and the Central Buying Consortium.[13] A fifth consortium, West Mercia Supplies (WMS), now called Consortium Education,[14] was based in the West Midlands but after being purchased by a private sector company it lost its status as a public sector consortium. The five consortia collectively operated under the name Pro5,[15] until WMS ceased to be part of the public sector. "ESPO" is the trading name of a joint committee of these six local authorities established under the Local Government Act 1972 (section 101 (5) and section 102) and section 9EB of the Local Government Act 2000. Initially its purpose was to serve Leicestershire and Lincolnshire as a joint initiative.[16]
• EN:Procure Ltd. is a consortium consisting of four South Yorkshire Councils – Sheffield City Council, Doncaster Council, Rotherham Council and Barnsley Council, and 4 South Yorkshire ALMOs – Sheffield Homes, Rotherham 2010, Berneslai Homes (Barnsley) and St Leger Homes (Doncaster). In October 2017 Efficiency North Limited changed its name to EN:Procure Limited.[17] EN:Procure's Landsolve framework agreement provides land brokerage and land advice services.[18]
• Fusion21 Members Consortium, a social enterprise based in Prescot, Merseyside.[19]
• Grand Union Housing Group [20]
• The Higher Education Purchasing Consortium, Wales (HEPCW) (Welsh: Consortiwm Pwrcasu Addysg Uwch, Cymru), which is supported and funded by the Welsh Higher Education institutions (HEIs).[21]
• KCS, part of Kent County Council's Commercial Services Group.[22]
• NEPO, the North East Purchasing Organisation, established in 1976.[23] NEPO is operated by The Association of North East Councils Ltd. and is based in Newcastle.[24]
• NEUPC, the North Eastern Universities Purchasing Consortium, based in Leeds.[25]
• NHS Shared Business Services (NHS SBS), serving both NHS and non-NHS public bodies [26]
• North and Mid Wales Trunk Road Agent. The North and Mid Wales Trunk Road Agent (NMWTRA) operates a Highway Mechanical, Electrical and Civil Engineering Framework to enable local authorities in the area to procure highway mechanical, electrical and civil engineering works through 'call off' works orders on the trunk road network and county roads.[27]
• The Northern Ireland Government's Construction and Procurement Delivery (CPD) Collaborative Procurement Team.[28] CPD was previously the Central Procurement Directorate. CPD advises the NI government on procurement strategy as well as establishing framework agreements.
• NWUPC, the North Western Universities Purchasing Consortium, is based in Salford. It was established in 1976 and changed its name from AIMS (Academic Institutions Management Services) to NWUPC in 1986.[29]
• Pagabo, based in Hull,[30] with an office in Motherwell which opened in 2021.[31]
• Procurement Hub, part of Places for People.[32]
• Scape, based in Nottingham,[33] provides construction, consultancy and civil engineering framework agreements. Scape is jointly owned by six local authorities: Derby City Council, Derbyshire County Council, Nottingham City Council, Nottinghamshire County Council, Warwickshire County Council and Gateshead Borough Council.[34]
• Scotland Excel, a collaborative procurement vehicle supporting the local authorities of Scotland,[35] lead authority: Renfrewshire Council
• SUPC, the Southern Universities Purchasing Consortium, based at the University of Reading.[36] SUPC is part of the Southern University Management Services (SUMS) group.[37]
• TEC, the Energy Consortium
• TUCO, The University Caterers Organisation, based in Manchester, provides procurement services to support in-house caterers in the university sector,[38] along with some services available to institutions who have outsourced their catering operations.[39]
• YORhub, launched in 2008 and managed by East Riding of Yorkshire Council, operates the YORbuild, YORconsult and YORcivils framework agreements.[40]
• YPO: see Yorkshire Purchasing Organisation
• WECA, the West of England Combined Authority, operates a framework agreement for professional services related to highways.

• The six regional higher education purchasing consortia, along with TEC and TUCO are known collectively as UK Universities Purchasing Consortia (UKUPC).[41] The heads of these eight consortia together form the UKUPC Board.[42]
• The National Association of Construction Frameworks represents 11 framework agreements operating in the construction sector.[43]
• The Pan Government Energy Project, now part of the Cabinet Office's Efficiency and Reform Group, designed and recommended a way for the public sector to buy its energy "via an aggregated, flexible, risk managed strategy via an appropriate [PBO] intermediary".