Our Procurement department employs a Small to Medium Enterprise (S.M.E) Development Officer, who is dedicated to working with local businesses (including Voluntary Sector organisations, Social Firms and Supported Factories), encouraging them to tender for council contracts and providing support and guidance wherever necessary.
An S.M.E. is defined as is a Small to Medium Enterprise that employs less than 250 people. Currently this sector makes up 99% of the businesses in Wales.
Our aim is to:
- Develop better Procurement support for local businesses
- Understand any barriers that the business may encounter, and endeavour to remove any unnecessary obstacles
- Understand each other's needs
- Ensure opportunities are maximised
Our objectives are to:
- Proactively engage with local businesses throughout the county borough and surrounding areas through a series of seminars, training sessions and face-to-face meetings
- Develop relationships with local businesses to gain an understanding of their capabilities and to help them to understand our requirements
- Ensure tendering processes are kept as clear and simple as possible to minimise costs and wherever possible to package large tenders into smaller lots
- Provide guidance, support and training opportunities in areas such as e-procurement; tender completions; environment management systems; health and safety; sustainability.
This council endorses the principles of "Opening Doors", the Charter for SME Friendly Procurement.
Opening Doors - The Charter for SME Friendly Procurement (PDF 883kb)
Procurement Services manages a database of suppliers and all local businesses are encouraged to register. The database contains information on the business, which helps purchasers understand the supplier's capability and to identify suitable suppliers for a particular purchasing requirement. It also acts as a mechanism to identify any areas that the business may need to improve upon in order to become competitive and win the purchasing contract.
Visit our Supplier directory webpage for further information.