central purchasing body

A central purchasing body is a contracting authority that carries out centralised purchasing activities on behalf of other public sector organisations. Rather than each individual authority running its own tender procedure, they can rely on a central purchasing body to handle the procurement for them.

How does a central purchasing body work?

A central purchasing body can operate in two ways. It can act as a wholesaler — purchasing goods and services in its own name and reselling them to other contracting authorities. Or it can function as an intermediary — concluding framework agreements or dynamic purchasing systems that other contracting authorities can use.

Under EU Directive 2014/24/EU (Article 37), contracting authorities can appoint a central purchasing body without following normal procurement procedures. Many EU/EEA countries operate national or regional central purchasing bodies. In Norway, the State Purchasing Centre (part of DFO) establishes mandatory framework agreements for government agencies.

Benefits of using a central purchasing body

• Simplified compliance: Contracting authorities that purchase from or through a central purchasing body are considered to have complied with procurement rules for those purchases.
• Better terms: Aggregated demand leads to greater purchasing power, typically resulting in better prices and conditions.
• Higher expertise: Central purchasing bodies have specialised procurement knowledge, leading to more professional purchasing.
• Resource savings: Smaller authorities avoid the need to build their own procurement expertise.

It is worth noting that contracting authorities conducting their own call-offs or mini-competitions under the central purchasing body's agreements remain responsible for complying with procurement rules for the parts they conduct themselves. Tools like Cobrief can help suppliers discover and monitor competitions run through central purchasing bodies.

A central purchasing body is a coordination function that makes procurement simpler and more efficient for the public sector. By consolidating expertise and volume in one place, central purchasing bodies contribute to better outcomes — while open processes ensure competition is maintained.