Widefield Inverted Microscope

About the buyer

University of Bristol is a higher education institution that buys through its own procurement team. Suppliers register on the university's e-tendering portal at tenders.bris.ac.uk to view and bid for opportunities. Contract notices appear on Contracts Finder to reach a wider pool of bidders. Much of this procurement flows through frameworks from the Southern Universities Purchasing Consortium and the Crown Commercial Service. Category teams advise faculties and divisions on purchases before tenders are issued. Tenders are issued directly when no suitable framework applies. The procurement team is an active member of the Higher Education Procurement Association.

Education procurement reached £47.4bn in 2024/25, the fourth-largest public sector budget.

Over the past 5 years, most of University of Bristol's contract awards have been in laboratory and precision equipment, transport equipment and architectural and engineering services.