We are not allowed by law to discriminate in favour of local suppliers, however we are committed to supporting and encouraging local businesses to compete for contracts.  We do this by:

• Putting contract opportunities on our website and in local papers where required.
• Giving guidance on our tendering processes.
• Keeping tender documents as simple to understand as possible.
• Setting realistic tendering timescales.
• Encouraging suppliers to use e-commerce systems that will shorten processes and reduce administration time so that the council can pay suppliers quicker.

Small Business Friendly Concordat

We have signed the Small Business Friendly Concordat which is a non statutory code of practice.

It sets out what small businesses and others supplying local government can expect when tendering for local authority contracts, as well as setting out the standards that public sector buyers should expect from their suppliers.

The concordat represents a commitment from us to encourage and develop levels of competition in the market in order to increase value for money. 

Date Published: 28/03/08

Downloads:

File name	Summary	File size / Download time	File Format
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Small Business Friendly Concordat	The concordat sets out what to expect when tendering for local authority contracts.	64KB 56Kbps Modem: Less than 1 Minute Broadband : Less than 1 Minute
Small Business Friendly Concordat	The concordat sets out what to expect when tendering for local authority contracts.	64KB 56Kbps Modem: Less than 1 Minute Broadband : Less than 1 Minute