How to find contracts

Finding available contracts and being invited to tender involves a combination of research and networking.

Opportunities for contracting with the public sector may be advertised in a wide variety of places:

  • Advertisements in local, regional or national newspapers and trade journals.
  • Buy 4 Wales allows Welsh public sector organisations to advertise contracts and tender opportunities www.buy4wales.co.uk
  • Sell 2 Wales allows organisations to register and receive notification of smaller contract opportunities (usually below £100,000) www.sell2wales.co.uk
  • Contract Shop aims to encourage and create effective inter-trading between local businesses. It provides practical assistance to small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) in winning private and public sector contracts www.contractshop.co.uk
  • Local authorities now tend to advertise their contract opportunities on their own websites. The Improvement and Development Agency for Local Government (IDeA) has links to all Welsh and English local authority websites www.idea-knowledge.gov.uk/idk/org/la-data.do
  • Local authorities also frequently organise ‘Meet the buyer’ events which aim to bring purchasers and suppliers together.
  • Public sector contacts – identify an appropriate individual involved in procurement and make sure you are kept informed of contract opportunities.
  • Official Journal of the European Union (OJEU) publishes all public sector contracts over a specified EU threshold www.ted.eur-op.eu.int
  • The Office of Government Commerce (OGC) – ‘OGCBuying.solutions’ – provides details of products and services that have already been pre-tendered www.ogcbuyingsolutions.gov.uk

Make the connection
To stand a chance of winning contracts you need to get connected and network. You need to reach out to your potential purchasers – the local authorities, health bodies and other public sector bodies. You also need to be able to form close partnerships with other voluntary and community organisations, so that you can work with them in consortia for large-value contracts. Smaller organisations might want to think about sub-contracting with larger organisations so that they can take on just those aspects of service delivery that they are experts at, without overstretching.