Is there a market for your goods and services?

Five opportunities can be explored:

Entering ‘existing’ procurement markets – you will be competing primarily with the private sector to provide goods and services that are currently purchased externally.

Externalisation or reprovisioning of current public services – you will be competing with a range of suppliers including the private and public sectors or social enterprises to supply goods or services that are currently delivered by the public sector.

New opportunities – you might be able to identify the need for a new service to meet an existing problem or social need. Alternatively, regeneration initiatives can create new procurement opportunities and local communities may be able to shape development of these opportunities.

Partnerships – you could get involved in collaborative work to supply a service to the public sector. Often these delivery partnerships are aiming to pool expertise or resources to meet a social need that one organisation does not have the skills or experience to meet.

Grant to contract – there is a growing trend for the public sector to move away from grant funding towards a commercial contract.