Public Sector Supplier Opportunities
We recognise that small local businesses (SME's) provide an invaluable contribution to public procurement bringing significant benefits and encourage their involvement.
EU Thresholds
Further Education Colleges are required to comply with EU tendering directives. The purpose of the directives is to encourage open and transparent competition which is delivered via competitive tendering throughout the European Union. The thresholds under which Colleges must operate is given here. Due to the College spend exceeding these thresholds in many product and service areas we are obliged to advertise most of the College tenders in the Official Journal of the European Union.
Electronic tendering
The college carries out the majority of its tenders via the electronic tendering software 'In-tend'. To register on In-Tend, please follow this link. Suppliers registering will have access not only to Vision West Nottinghamshire College’s tenders, but those of other colleges who also use this software.
Further Competition and the Crescent Purchasing Consortium (CPC)
The College is able to carry out a 'Further Competition Tender' through a consortium such as the CPC. The CPC is a National Purchasing Consortium which is owned by and run on behalf of the FE sector. The CPC conduct OJEU Tendered Contracts specifically for the sector in the UK. Membership of the CPC is free for FE institutions and has over 500 member colleges who access the framework agreements.
For those interested in becoming a supplier to the CPC, they may register their interest and/or view full details of forthcoming and current tenders on the CPC In-Tend website. For more information about Crescent Purchasing Consortium their website is available at:
The CPC also advertise their tenders via In-Tend electronic tendering software, their link is below:-
Lower Value Contracts
Contracts Finder is a free new service for businesses, government buyers and the public.. and is a source of government opportunities. This service comes from government under its transparency commitment, and you can find live contract opportunities, closed tender documentation, contract awards and contract documents.
This service is one of several practical measures that government has taken to become more open and transparent, so that it can be held to account and deliver better value for money.
The number of live opportunities available - ie those that are still open for bidding - will be fairly low to begin with. It will increase over time as more government departments and agencies make more use of the service.
You can use Contracts Finder to access and search for live opportunities, tender and contract documentation published by government departments and agencies.
https://www.gov.uk/tendering-for-public-sector-contracts
https://www.gov.uk/contracts-finder
OR
https://online.contractsfinder.businesslink.gov.uk
Locally based tender opportunities
Some public sector opportunities can also be found on locally based websites such as those below.