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Local contracts and tenders

Ashfield Local business suppliers portal

We would like to encourage more local businesses to become suppliers for Council services or products. We spend around £35M on procurement each year and have 3 levels of procurement: up to £5000, over £5000, and over £25,000. Each level of spend is managed in slightly different ways, however most often overlooked is the up to £5000 spend. This doesn’t require any complicated tender applications; procurement contracts can be authorised directly by department heads based on quotes.

In April 2022 we launched an online directory for local businesses who wish to be suppliers (so your business must be based within Ashfield to be eligible) and if you do register your business in this directory, then we may approach you for quotes for goods or services up to £5000.

East Midlands Tenders Search

Nottinghamshire County Council post their tenders on this portal, as do many other public sector organisations. You can register for alerts and have access to tenders that are outside the East Midlands region.

GOV Contracts Finder

The Government Contracts Finder will let you search for information about contracts worth over £10,000 within the public sector and their agencies.

You can use this platform to:

  • Search for contract opportunities in different sectors
  • Find out what’s coming up in the future
  • Look up details of previous tenders and contracts
  • website: GOV Contracts Finder

You can create an account to set up and receive email updates, and to save your searches. Alternatively you can use the system without an account to search and apply for contracts.

If you’re looking for higher value tenders above £118,000 in the UK, then you need to use the ‘Find a Tender’ service instead.

Businesses can still use existing portals to view low value or location specific notices such as:

Other useful public sector tender websites

Suppliers can also register to increase their visibility to over 6000 government buyers by registering on the Supplier Registration Service for Government.

When considering applying for a tender you must make sure not only can you deliver it, but more importantly, can you win it. A lot of time can be lost trying to go for tenders when businesses don't meet the essential criteria, also many new to tendering can make the mistake of applying for multiple tenders thinking quantity is better than quality and again this approach will not yield a positive result.

It is better to think in terms of the strongest application you can submit.

Specialist R&D and Innovation Tenders

NHS – East Midlands Innovation Academy

The East Midlands Innovation Academy is a free course delivered in conjunction with Medilink Midlands. It has been designed for businesses who would like to gain an understanding of how the NHS takes forward new innovative products, to improve patient care and outcomes.

If you are interested in supplying your products to the NHS and you don’t know where to start, then you can enrol on a series of free virtual webinars that explain everything you need to know to access procurement opportunities.