How to become a supplier, contractor or consultant
Low value purchases
When a purchase value is below £5,000 (except when it's part of a larger purchase or is one of a series of similar purchases) the individual department requiring the goods will usually seek informal quotations. This will be without involvement from the central procurement team.
If you wish to promote your business for low value products or services you should contact individual departments or locations that may be interested.
How to find out about opportunities
Our tender opportunities are advertised on the current tenders page on our website. There's a link on this page to the council’s e-procurement tendering portal (Delta eSourcing). Here you must register your interest in order to be able to download the tender documents. Also, all of our tender opportunities are advertised on the government procurement portal Contracts Finder, part of the GOV.UK website.
Under the Public Contracts Regulations 2015, most public sector organisations are required to advertise most of their tenders on Contracts Finder. This is an essential source of opportunities within the public sector as a whole.
You can register free of charge on Contracts Finder. You can set up search criteria that will allow you to get an email alert every time a tender is advertised that meets your criteria. The Delta e-sourcing registration is also free of charge. You can call their Helpdesk on 0800 923 9236 for assistance.
Contracts equal to or above the WTO (World Trade Organisation) threshold are advertised on the Government’s website Find-A-Tender.
Tendering tips
Whichever procurement procedure we use, it's important to read the information supplied carefully. Please submit all the documentation we request by the specified return date and time.
The success of your bid is determined by the quality and accuracy of this information.
- if there is anything in the documentation that you don't understand, please contact us
- please submit your queries via the Delta portal at least a week before the deadline - this will allow sufficient time for us to obtain further information/clarification
- in completing any documentation, ensure that you provide all the information requested and answer all questions accurately
- please ensure that all requested information is submitted on the Delta portal by the stated deadline