Public Contract Opportunities For Highland Businesses

18th January 2021

The Highland Council is encouraging businesses to sign up to an upcoming free webinar event to find out more about public contract opportunities.

The Council, along with Aberdeen City Council and Aberdeenshire Council, have teamed up with the Supplier Development Programme (SDP), a free business support service that offers tender training and advice to Scottish micro, small and medium sized businesses.

The webinar on January 27 will focus on upcoming contracts and frameworks to be let by the Shared Procurement Service across all three councils in the coming year.

The Council's Chair of the Economy and Infrastructure Committee, Cllr Trish Robertson said: "Each year, £11bn is spent in Scotland's public sector on goods, works and services, and this webinar is a good starting point for businesses to engage with all three councils and find out more about upcoming contracts.

"I really hope as many Highland businesses as possible take up this opportunity as successfully securing public contracts will provide some much-needed stability, especially those impacted by the covid-19 pandemic. There will be a lot of advice, information and support on offer. Businesses that participate will understand how the tender process works, and be able to ask questions to council staff about upcoming tender and framework opportunities so this really is an excellent chance for any business looking for a new path to market in 2021."

This webinar will cover a wide range of topics and help suppliers to:

Learn about the Shared Procurement Service and its role across three local authorities

Understand how its tender processes work

Find out where and how the Shared Procurement Service advertises tender opportunities

Gain an insight into upcoming tender and framework opportunities

Learn about the Supplier Development Programme's range of training services, and how it can support you to become 'tender ready' for these upcoming contract and framework opportunities.

Jennifer Payne, a Development Officer with SDP, is helping to organise the online event. She said:"No business is too small to get involved in public sector work. Even a one-person operation can have something to offer.

"A big problem for many micro, small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) is gaining the know-how they need to do business with the public sector.

“That's why we work with local authorities like Aberdeen City, Aberdeenshire and Highland Councils, so that local businesses can be invited to bid and learn skills to bid more successfully, to deliver the contracts on offer."

The free webinar called, ‘Talking Tenders with Aberdeen City, Aberdeenshire and Highland Councils' will take place on Wednesday, 27 January at 2:00pm.

Suppliers can register for the free webinar on 27 January on the SDP Scotland website