How does your council spend money? And, why isn’t it with you?
Organisations in the public sector must comply with rules, LOTS of them including everything related to buying goods and services (procurement). Some procurement rules are part of the UK’s legislation, while others, such as getting quotes from local businesses are created by the individual organisations to reflect their priorities.
These rules include:
- how and where contracts are advertised
- what timescales should be used
- how quotes and bids should be evaluated
- what decision-making processes have to be followed
Every public sector organisation must meet the required standards for transparency and audibility, and the Freedom of Information Act allows us to ask questions too.
As a small business, you probably wonder how on earth you would learn about all these rules and more importantly, whether it’s worth your time doing so. The simple answer to the second question is no.
Wait … What?
From the perspective of a small business, the main thing to understand is whether YOUR products or services will be subject to formal procurement. And the easiest way to find out whether and how your local council buys them is to ask.
And I do mean ask. NOT try to sell to everyone who you speak to.
Realistically, it’s not always easy to speak to a real person, so another option is to look at current spending. Most councils now publish monthly lists showing all their payments over £500 and which organisations they have made payments to. In some instances, this spend data is for everything over £250. With just a few clicks, you can see whether your competitors are doing work with the council. You can also get a feel for whether the council buys your products and services. If they do, it’s time to double your efforts to become more visible to them, so that they can buy from you.
The second thing you can do is use a portal and look for contract award notices or for the contracts register. This will tell you whether your council has advertised any contracts in your sector and if so, who won them. It’s a useful indicator as to whether formal procurement processes will likely be used by them for your products/services.
Useful portals to look at are:
Each is free to register on and allows you to access all current tenders and some historic data. They also let you set up and receive free email alerts about future opportunities.
If there is regular lower value spending, e.g. £5K each month, or there are some really big spending numbers, then it is likely that the council will have used a formal procurement route such as tenders, supplier questionnaires, frameworks, dynamic purchasing systems or the new dynamic markets etc. In this case, you will find one of Newable’s workshops useful to help you understand more about the specific processes used and how to get through them.
For occasional, lower value spend, there is a fair chance that the budget holders who award the contracts are not based in the procurement department at all. Whilst it will be harder to work out who to speak to, there will be far fewer hoops and hurdles to get through when it comes to being awarded a contract. In these cases, networking and marketing techniques can be the best way forward.
There are many ways to increase your visibility, one of which is to register on the specific council’s preferred portal. You should be able to find more details on their website.
If you’d like to find more information, join one of our upcoming events for the Inclusive Supply Chain programme by clicking here.
This blog has been written by Carol Hustler LLB (Hons), MA, Director, TEDs Friend Ltd
TEDs Friend provides specialist consultancy, strategic support and training to companies who want to improve their success rates to win more tenders. They guide you through complex procurement processes so that you can submit effective and successful tender bids. Save time, save money and reduce your frustration.