How to find opportunities to sell to the public sector

You’ve decided that you want to sell to the public sector. Finding contracts can be like finding a needle in a haystack. Research shows there are 1627 active sites with details of UK-based contract notices.

In Scotland all opportunities must be advertised on the Public Contracts Scotland portal.

In England details of all opportunities worth over £10,000 must be published on Contracts Finder – however the opportunities are administered (and advertised on) a range of different portals.

In Wales details of opportunities can be found on the Sell2Wales Portal and in Northern Ireland on the eSourcingNI portal.

Some of the English portals are:

• Contracts Finder – contracts over £10,000

• DEFRA eSourcing Portal

• NHS Supply Chain Portal

• Ministry Of Defence

• Department of Work and Pensions

• Supplying the South West

• South East Business Portal

• YOR Tender Portal

• Chest – North West of England, including Manchester, Liverpool and Leeds.

• North East Procurement Organisation Portal

• East Mids tenders

• London Tenders Procurement Portal

• North Western Universities Purchasing Consortium.

Before looking for contracts (running searches) it is important to fully understand what your business is capable of providing. This should include:

• What are your strengths?

• What are your weaknesses?

• How can you fill those gaps?

• What is your overall business strategy?

Taking the time to understand your own business first will help you to identify the areas in which you want to be working (geographically) and therefore which tender portals to register on. And then in turn which contracts will help you meet your growth strategy. If you need help to draw up your procurement strategy or would like a chat about all things selling to the public sector then get in touch.