Public Organisations are good customers. They have to be fair, open and transparent in the way they choose suppliers and in any dealings with them. They have to pay within 30 days or any other agreed period per sector, of receiving a valid invoice.

All public sector organisations buying goods and services must obtain best value for money. This means that they will accept the bid that offers the optimum price and quality to meet the user’s requirements, not just the lowest price.

There is a commitment to helping small and medium size businesses compete for government contracts to obtain better value for money for the public sector. Small firms offer:

• greater competition
• lower costs
• new ideas
• flexibility
• specialisation
• quality of service

For details on where to find contract opportunities advertised go to the Procurement Lincolnshire website.

Subcontracting Opportunities - Many of the highest value contracts go to large companies but small companies can play a part in these contracts as sub contractors or by forming a consortium with other smaller companies.

To see who has won the larger contracts go to Tenders Electronic Daily (www.ted.europa.eu|) website where all contracts above the EU threshold are advertised.

Approved Supplier Lists - Many public sector organisations hold lists of potential suppliers for certain types of work, usually lower value contracts below the EU thresholds. For all contracts above the EU threshold they still need to advertise in the normal way.

The nature of these lists varies between organisations, but all lists should be regularly reviewed to include new suppliers and ensure existing suppliers still provide good value for money.

Where can I find information on available contracts?

There are a number of websites local authorities use to advertise and tender work.

Tenders Electronic Daily (TED)|. TED is updated five times a week with approximately 1500 public procurement contract notices from the European Union and beyond. Suppliers can browse, search and sort procurement notices by business sector, country, region and more. Suppliers are able to register free of charge for e-mail alerts in order to receive contract opportunities tailored to their interests. This website should be considered as a primary tool for suppliers interested in applying for contracts above the OJEU thresholds. For help on how to receive free email updates please click here.

The following link provides an RSS feed of all current contract notices in the OJEU within Lincolnshire: OJEU Notices in Lincolnshire|

For contracts below the Official Journal of the European Union thresholds, tender opportunities can be found at the following web-site - Contracts Finder|.

Transparency in government procurement and contracting for all new central government contracts worth over £10,000 are now available online. You can access these free of charge on Contracts Finder, a new service on the Business Link website. Use Contracts Finder to access documents published under the governments transparency commitment.

The Contracts Finder website is part of the coalition government’s measures aimed at making it easier for SME’s to find and apply for public sector contracts. Its use will be mandatory for central government departments and their agencies, plus the NHS. All these bodies will be obliged to publish contract opportunities on this site.

Contracts are split out by low value opportunities: £10k to £100k; and high value opportunities: £100k+. A flexible e-mail alert facility is available and the site has greater functionality than the old Supply2Gov website. This should be a key site for contract opportunities beyond Lincolnshire.

Source Lincolnshire|. Source portals are a series of East Midlands-centric websites which provide free access to a diverse range of regional contract opportunities. Procurement Lincolnshire will replicate adverts placed on TED on the Source Lincolnshire portal - interested suppliers would only need to respond once. The Source Lincolnshire website may also be used for advertising small value contracts.

Procurement Lincolnshire is a Shared Service partnership between eight local authorities in Lincolnshire, including Lincolnshire County Council, City of Lincoln Council, Boston Borough, East Lindsey District Council, North Kesteven District Council, South Holland District Council, South Kesteven District Council and West Lindsey District Council.

Procurement Lincolnshire offer support and advice to authority employees undertaking a procurement process. Together, the eight partner authorities spend in excess of £480 million per year on the procurement of goods, services and works and we have a duty to make sure that this spending represents value for money

If you are interested in seeking business from Lincolnshire local authorities the information contained in this section should help. http://microsites.lincolnshire.gov.uk/procurement/supplier-portal/|

Procurement Lincolnshire works in conjunction with other local public sector organisations and the local business community providing a range of training to SME’s to support them in responding to tender opportunities.

Training in Public Procurement Partnership – TIPPS Half-day training events are held across Lincolnshire in April and October each year to explain the tendering process in more detail. SME’s are encouraged to attend one of these sessions if they are new to public sector tendering or wish to update their knowledge of the process. These sessions are free.

For a schedule of events, please visit http://microsites.lincolnshire.gov.uk/procurement/events?tab=downloads|

As part of the Governments objective to encourage SMEs to participate in public procurement opportunities, they developed an on-line training course `Winning the Contract’. Hosted by Learn Direct, the course is completely free of charge to any supplier wishing to be in a better informed position in dealing with local government procurement processes. For further information please follow this link http://www1.learndirect-business.com/business-courses/winning-the-contract/|

This course can be used to compliment the TIPPS training for local businesses that Procurement Lincolnshire plays a leading role in. Please visit Events| to view any upcoming training events we have.