Introduction

As we move progressively into the era of ‘open and competitive tendering for public services’ more and more Third Sector Organisations will become interested and decide that this type of business is for them.

This webpage aims to help inform you about where to look for tenders locally, regionally and nationally. We will do our best to keep the page up to date, however with local government reorganisation occurring at this time their procurement systems have still to be developed. In addition, nationally government organisations are increasingly gearing up to support ‘the bringing to the market’ of their services (tendering). So bookmark this page to keep up to date with local, regional and national developments.

Tendering for Public Services Sources of Information:

• For tenders above EU threshold access visit Tender Electronic Daily (about 3-4,000 calls for tenders daily ) This can be found at http://ted.europa.eu/
• For tenders lower than the EU threshold go to: www.supply2.gov.uk (they charge for their tender alert service but frequently offer free trial periods so pop to their site and check up on this)
• For latest national/regional and sub-regional opportunities go to: www.cover-east.org/Contracts-Tenders.asp
• www.tendermatch.co.uk provides a daily email alert service of govt tender opportunities relevant to your business from the EU, central, local government, health, defence, education, prisons, etc but they charge for this!
• Go directly to the websites of local and other government agencies such as the East of England Regional Offender Management Service, Legal Services Commission, East of England Learning and Skills Council, Bedfordshire NHS Luton PCT, Horizon Health, etc, etc.
• Look in the ‘public announcements’ and ‘tenders’ sections of trade magazines and local/national newspapers. We can confirm that ALL Beds County Council tenders appear in our local newspapers and NOT on their website (up to 31st March 2009).
• Contact your Local Authority or NHS Commissioning Officers to discuss any project proposals you may have. The NHS have recently invited local third sector organisations who believe they may have projects that will benefit the health or help them provide health care to their patients and wider public to contact them. You should make contact after you have produced a service proposal/business case for each project as they will expect you to have the facts to hand.
• If you really want to see what Tender Alert Services are out there try putting Tender Alert Services into a search engine like Google and enjoy!!!

Contact Ian Curtis, Collaborative Working officer and Procurement Lead on 01234 354366 for more information.

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