The BRIC Procurement Central

Since 2015, the BRIC has established a position as a Procurement Central in order to facilitate the acquisition of IT hardware, software and services for its institutional partners.

Since it was implemented, no fewer than 111 Brussels institutions (including 17 Brussels communes) have joined the BRIC Procurement Central .

What is a Procurement Central ?

Procurement Centrals are governed by the act of 15 June 2006 on public procurement contracts and certain contracts for work, supplies and services. They are a means of grouping together public orders.  

What are the advantages of the BRIC Procurement Central ?

• Time saving: Article 15 of the aforementioned act states that a contracting authority that calls upon a Procurement Central  is released from the obligation to organise a contract award procedure itself. This means it does not have to invite competitive bids. It also results in a reduction in the number of small contract procedures and considerable time saving.
• Economic advantage: a Procurement Central  can obtain more favourable market conditions and therefore a lower price for group purchases than for separate purchases (economies of scale). In addition, calling upon a Procurement Central  means that the transaction costs (in particular the costs linked to the organisation of a public procurement contract) are transferred from the individual contracting authorities to the Procurement Central.
• Higher contract reference value: the fact that it is a major contract, rather than several small contracts, increases the reference value of the contract, making it considerably more interesting for bidders.
• Extensive IT expertise: the BRIC has extensive expertise in the field of IT and therefore offers its technical abilities to the contracting authorities via the procurement central.
• Ease of use: to benefit from the BRIC Procurement Central , the Brussels institution has to
  • fill in a subscription form to join the Procurement Central,
  • accept the General Terms and Conditions of the Central,
  • join in with contracts of interest to it,
  • choose from the e-catalogue app and place its orders with the supplier of the proposed goods or services, as with a conventional e-commerce website.