Are you new to procurement: unsure where to begin? This guide will show you how to successfully win public sector contracts.
We go back to the basics with our ‘Getting started with UK public sector procurement’ guide.
What is public procurement?
When a public sector organisation in the UK purchases any goods, works or services, this action is classed as public procurement.
A public sector contract is often referred to as a ‘tender’ and the procurement process is sometimes known as ‘tendering’.
How do procurement thresholds work?
Public procurement is regulated, which makes it different from the way private companies do business with each other.
Public sector contracts that are over a certain value, or ‘threshold’, must be advertised in the Official Journal of the European Union (OJEU). These thresholds change every couple of years; the current OJEU thresholds can be found here.
How to break down a tender document
If you want to get the most out of a public sector contract document, then make sure you read it carefully and more than once.
If you are new to UK public sector procurement, make sure that you pay attention to the evaluation criteria and weightings that will be used to score responses.
This information is important as it gives your business an indication of which elements are most important to the buyer. In turn, this will help you to write a proposal addressing what the buyer wants, not just what you want to deliver.
How to find public sector contracts
Although all high-value opportunities are published and advertised in the OJEU, small businesses can struggle to find lower-value opportunities that are perhaps more relevant to their business as, in most cases, they lack the resources required to search through a variety of contracts portals. This means that smaller businesses often miss opportunities that they could take advantage of.
If you want to find relevant tenders, start by using a tender alert tool like Supply2Gov. Supply2Gov users do not need to search for public sector contract opportunities as they are sent the most up-to-date tenders straight to their inbox with Tender Alerts.
Users simply set up an Email Alert Profile with the relevant information about the product or service they offer and the area they are seeking to do business in; they will then start to receive contract opportunities daily (Monday to Friday).
Get started for free
With our Tender Alerts service, finding opportunities to win public sector contracts couldn’t be easier.
All you need to do is let us know the type of contracts you want to win and we will send these opportunities straight to your inbox as soon as they become available.
New users can get started for free with our ‘Ready to Take Flight’ subscription level by simply choosing the local area that their business wants to win work in.
Try our service now by registering for free.