Find and manage and opportunity

How our opportunities are administered

We will always look first to own procured agreements to source providers, or utilise those offered by a third party. Such agreements will be a mixture of contracts, framework agreements and dynamic systems. It is important for all providers to understand the framework agreement and dynamic system. Other processes to procure may include collaborative projects with partners.

Where these routes do not offer a route-to-market, we will look to approach the market: -

• Procurements for opportunities with contracts valued below £25,000 are managed, not by the central Commercial Team, but by the specific Directorate using a quotation process. There is no retained central list of providers, and generally no public advert for the administration of this process. For information a copy of a typical set of quotation terms and conditions employed is made available on this site.

• Opportunities for procurements at/above £25,000 tend mainly to be advertised in the public domain to attract competition. These projects will be the basis for ‘tendering’, with all documentation being prepared and managed by us. There is no limit to the value of agreement procured at this level. For information, what constitutes typical procurement documentation is presented in what to expect in a procurement.

In answer to the demand of the education sector, schools etc who frequently require very low value (less than £500) facilities management/light construction work performing, we can sign-post providers to a pre-qualified list. Refer to procuring for construction for more details.

How are our opportunities advertised?

For opportunities valued below £25,000, there is no advert and providers are encouraged to engage with specific council directorate commissioning resources.

Opportunities for procurements at/above £25,000 require prospective providers to have registered in the government-led portals of ContractsFinder and Find A Tender. All such tender opportunities from many local authorities can be found in these portals, though providers can narrow their searches. The portals not only provide visibility on advertised work, but also presents notices to confirm the award of agreements.

We manage all our tendered procurement projects electronically using an online electronic procurement (eProcurement) portal. The portal system employed is Proactis and offers a third route to informing providers of advertised opportunities. It is therefore a requirement for providers to have also registered in the on-line Proactis system.

After registering, access is provided to all tendering opportunities on the portal. The portal will hold the procurement documentation and templates, allow providers to complete, upload and submit their tender requirements, and provide the 2-way interface to communicate to the Commercial Team.