Objectives
Activities

Public procurement activities

The Public Procurement Workstream will:

  • make initial contact and meet with major procurers of electronic systems and services in the public sector and so asses their needs and identify how opportunities might be addressed;
  • produce a 'capability statement' that highlights the electronics products and services that companies, and particularly small companies, are able to offer to public procurers;
  • arrange suitable forums and communications channels to bring together procurers and suppliers to discus specific opportunities; and
  • arrange suitable forums and communications channels to help bring companies in contact with overseas government procurers.

 

Public Sector Procurement Opportunities in Electronics and IT Services
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London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games

London 2012, the offical site for the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games, has announced an initiative for businesses seeking information about 2012. This includes a business section on the website, which offers a free registration service allowing businesses to register their interest in finding out about new Games opportunities.

Companies wishing to register an interest can sign up for automatic updates from London 2012 at www.london2012.com/business.

Companies who register their interest will be sent an automatic update from London 2012 with key announcements, including tender opportunities and updates on other key areas of progress.


General Information on Public Sector Procurement

Many public sector organisations take the opportunity to advertise their tenders on their own websites but According to EU legislation, all contracts from the public sector, which are valued above a certain threshold, must be published in the Official Journal of the European Union (OJEU, formerly the OJEC).

The legislation covers organisations and projects that receive public money. Local authorities, NHS trusts, Central Government Departments, Port Authorities are all covered by the legislation and must advertise in OJEU if their contract is covered.

Some privately funded / managed contracts will also be covered - if a project is in receipt of more than 50% public funds, it would also be covered by the EU legislation (e.g. the Lowry Centre in Manchester and the Millennium Dome).

The term 'Journal' is misleading, as production of the hard copy version ceased in 1997. It can now be accessed on CD ROM or via intermediaries such as Tenders Direct.

Around 2500 new notices are advertised every week - invitations to tender, pre information notices, qualification systems and contract award notices from over 80 countries world - wide. Around 10% - 15% of these are from the UK and Northern Ireland.

Details of the thresholds, applying from 31 January 2006 are given in the following link http://www.tendersdirect.co.uk/library/thresholds.asp


Where More Information Can Be Found About Public Sector Procurement Opportunities

 There are a number of websites where information can be obtained about the currently available opportunities; some of them are described below with hyperlinks:

Supply2.gov.uk
Supply2.gov.uk is a dynamic new government-backed service designed specifically to give companies’ easy access to lower-value contract opportunities (typically worth under £100,000) offered by the public sector. This portal brings buyers and suppliers together and is the first port of call for lower-value business opportunities.

Official Journal of the European Union
This website provides a gateway to specialised resources for purchasers who wish to publish tender notices in the S series of the Official Journal of the European Union (OJEU) (formerly known as the OJEC) and suppliers who wish to search for business opportunities. Information for suppliers is found on the tenders direct website. 

Tenders Direct
Tenders Direct is a tender tracking system that automatically sends relevant contract opportunities directly by email. This site uses a category system where people can find examples of the types of tenders available.

Tenders Electronic Daily (TED)
TED is a database of European tenders that forms part of the European Commission's 'Official Journal of the European Union' (OJEU). Tenders are published by Central Government, Local Councils, MOD, NHS, Educational Bodies, Police, Utility Organisations etc. TED also displays lower value contracts not published in the European Journal.

www.govopps.co.uk
This website is a public procurement portal giving links to a number of the websites mentioned in this document it is also the home of Contrax Weekly a subscription magazine that gives details of hundreds of new contract opportunities in the UK. Contrax Weekly is the only comprehensive paper source of UK and Northern Ireland contract notices. The magazine is available by subscription on this website.

BiP Solutions
BiP Solutions is a leading provider of public sector contract information, offering suppliers and buyers access to a very large database of current open contract opportunities. Over 300 UK government organisations use BiP Solutions’s internet solutions to create and manage their contract information. BiP Solutions is a member of the EU's taskforce for standardising the way in which tender information is created, submitted and disseminated.

EC Tenders
EC Tenders is a service licensed by the European Union to promote contract opportunities issued by public authorities from throughout the 25 Member States of the EU to suppliers. This amounts to approximately 650 new opportunities published in EC Tenders every working day.

Tracker
Tracker is a public sector contract information alert service that delivers contract opportunities relevant to individual businesses by e-mail, giving the capability to search for new business opportunities online. This is made possible through completing an online profile which, through keywords and product codes, identifies precisely those contracts relevant to the supplier. Tracker then delivers this potential new business information every working day.

The table on this PDF link identifies a selection of public sector organisations that advertise their procurement opportunities on their website. Included in the table is some detail of what is available in the procurement section of their site and a hyperlink to that section.  Public Sector Procurement Websites PDF