Procurement at Cefas

Details of Cefas purchasing arrangements and information for those looking to become a supplier or contractor.


Cefas uses external suppliers for goods, services and works including:

  • technical goods and services
  • corporate services
  • research and development
  • ICT
  • properties

Contract opportunities

We are keen to offer under-represented businesses such as SMEs and voluntary and community sector organisations the same opportunities to compete for our contracts as other qualified suppliers. We widely publicise our procurements on the following websites:

Prompt payments to Cefas suppliers

Prompt Payments Report Financial year 2015/2016

2015/2016 Percentage of invoices paid within 5 days Percentage of invoices paid within 30 days Total amount of liability to pay from April 2016
Quarter 1 88.5% 11.5% -
Quarter 2 97.7% 2.3% -
Quarter 3 98% 2% -
Quarter 4 99.30% 0.7% -

All central government departments are now required to pay 80% of undisputed invoices within five days. Suppliers need to be aware of the correct procedures involved to achieve this.

Suppliers must send invoices by post to:

Corporate Business Centre
Cefas Laboratory
Pakefield Road
Lowestoft
Suffolk
NR33 0HT

Or by email to: [email protected]

Further information relating to Cefas’ purchasing arrangements can be found on Procurement at Defra.

Contact us

You can contact us by emailing [email protected]

Cefas Procurement
Cefas Laboratory
Pakefield Road
Lowestoft
Suffolk
NR33 0HT

We value feedback from existing and prospective suppliers and always look to improve procurement processes and customer–supplier relationships. If you are a current, or prospective, supplier and would like to provide feedback on our procurement processes, please contact our Procurement Team. Any feedback you provide will have no influence whatsoever on your involvement in any future tendering opportunities with Cefas or any other contracting authority, however, we will always try to address any issues that are raised where we feel we can improve what we do.