Supplying the council

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East Suffolk Council currently spends around £84 million each year and we are keen to encourage a diverse range of suppliers to do business with us, both large and small.

As a local council we are not just looking for the biggest companies to supply us, we want to encourage organisations of all sizes to bid on our tenders, including local suppliers. There is something for everyone and we are shaping procurements for all kinds of suppliers.

Why do business with East Suffolk Council?

We are governed by many different regulations which ensure that the way we work is fair, open and transparent. These regulations can mean that the process is more complex than in the private sector, but they do mean you can be sure you will be treated fairly and on the same terms as everyone else.

It is not all about money. We want the best value in our agreements and not simply the lowest price. Having delivered services for over 45 years, you can be sure that working with East Suffolk Council is a safe partner to do business with, paying 98% of our suppliers on time within 30 days.

There are many other benefits to doing business with the council:

We are a reliable source of work as we will always have requirements that will need to be supplied.
Our requirements are suitable for companies of all sizes.
The regulations that the Council are governed by mean that the process is binding and will ensure that you are protected throughout the contract life cycle.

Procurement Strategy 2024-2028

All our contracting activities must contribute to the aims and objectives of the Procurement Strategy 2024-2028.

The new Procurement Strategy focuses on four main themes supported by a fifth, good governance:

1. Social Value. The priorities underpinning this theme are supporting local people, achievable Social Value outcomes and monitoring delivery of Social Value.

2. Environment. The priorities underpinning this theme are environmentally responsible materials, education and green procurement choices.

3. Supporting SMEs and Local Businesses. The priorities underpinning this theme are access to opportunities, engaging local supply chain and training.

4. Ethical Procurement. The priorities underpinning this theme are ethical tax practices, working conditions, Fairtrade and Equality, Diversity and Inclusion.

Each theme details what the strategy will deliver under those priorities and how they contribute to the strategic objectives in Our Direction 2028.

Specifications, requirements and quality criteria in tender documents will incorporate these above themes in some way, so if you want to do business with the Council it’s a good idea to take a look and see how you could build this into your tender response.

Procurement Act 2023

The Procurement Act 2023 and supporting Procurement Regulations 2024 are due to come into force 24 February 2025 and will apply to all higher value procurements over the Public Procurement Threshold. The aims of the new Act includes principles of transparency, delivering value for money, maximising public benefit and ensuring opportunities are available to Small and Medium Enterprises. The Procurement Strategy 2024-2028 has been developed so that it will not need to be amended further as a result of the Act.

East Suffolk Council’s Procurement Team will be engaging with suppliers on the impact of the new regulations through our Meet the Buyer event, emails and this webpage.

The Cabinet Office will be releasing a supplier communications package imminently and have produced short knowledge drops for suppliers: The Official Transforming Public Procurement Knowledge Drops - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk).

Support for small businesses

We want to support small and local businesses to win our contracts. This includes looking at how we structure contracts, revising our tender documentation, producing guidance documents, holding supplier events and working with local commerce groups.

We aim to hold two Meet the Buyer events a year in either Lowestoft or Woodbridge.

The next event will be during Summer 2025. Please email procurement@eastsuffolk.gov.uk for more information and to join the waitlist. We do have a maximum number of places available so they are reserved on a first come, first served basis.

We support the national procurement concordat for small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs). The concordat is a statement of principles to encourage effective trade between local authorities and small businesses:

Small and Medium Sized Enterprises Procurement Concordat

Social Value

Social Value is very important to the council. It is important we maximise public benefit for every pound we spend. This could be anything from having apprentices involved in delivering the contract, therefore creating jobs for the younger generation, to ensuring that we incorporate local businesses with our work to help improve the local economy.

Our aims and approach are detailed in our policy here:

East Suffolk Social Value Policy

Social Value is not a new concept in the public sector but it can be tricky to understand how to incorporate it into your tender responses, especially as a small business. The Procurement Team has created an East Suffolk Social Value Ask document which details the outcomes the Council would like to see as part of its contracting activities. Where Social Value is included as quality question in the tender documents, the East Suffolk Social Value Ask will be included as part of the procurement and suppliers will be able to choose from a list of options as to how they will deliver Social Value, making it easier for suppliers to improve their Social Value offer.

Working with partner organisations

East Suffolk Council’s Procurement Team provides procurement services to East Suffolk Services Limited, Great Yarmouth Borough Council, South Norfolk Council and Broadland District Council. Contract opportunities for these organisations will be advertised through East Suffolk’s procurement portal as in the following section.

We are also working with the Suffolk Supply Chain to help our supplier base improve their tender responses.

Future opportunities

We want to engage more with our suppliers to let them know when we have contract opportunities coming up or “in the pipeline” so you can better plan your resource in responding to invitation to tender.

View our first iteration of our procurement pipeline

This information is as accurate as we can provide at present, we are intending to improve on this and update quarterly going forward. Information provided is subject to change.

Where to look for current tenders

We advertise open opportunities on our eProcurement site. Suppliers can register on In-tend free of charge and will then be able to respond to all of the advertised opportunities.

On In-tend you can:

View a list of tenders/contracts/quotations.
Express interest in a particular tender or quotation.
Receive tender and/or quotation documentation.
Safely return your tender or quotation documents.
Send and receive correspondence.

How do I get started on In-tend?

To browse the list of tenders and quotations select the Tenders option. If you are interested in any of those listed, click the View Details button for further information and to express your interest.
To gain full access to this web site you must register your company/organisation using the Register option.
When your registration has been accepted, you will receive an email containing your log-in information.
Once you have received your log-in information, or if you are already a registered user, select the Login option.

More information and detailed guidance.

Open opportunities over £25,000 will also be advertised on Contracts Finder and, when above Public Procurement Threshold levels, on the Find a Tender Service (FTS).

Contract Procedure Rules

All procurements are governed by our Contract Procedure Rules which it within the council’s Constitution. The Contract Procedure Rules in the Constitution are expanded on in the Supplementary Notes.

These rules and regulations govern our procedures for obtaining quotations, issuing tenders and awarding contracts.

For higher value contracts, those over the Public Procurement Threshold (detailed below) additional rules and regulations apply.

The procurement process

The procurement process depends on the value of the works, supplies or services sought and there are thresholds for when the council must obtain written quotations and issue tenders.

Value of works, supplies or services excluding VAT	Quotations or tenders required
£0 to £20,000	One quotation demonstrating value for money and confirmed in writing
£20,001 - £75,000	Three written quotations either issued openly or to at least three suppliers
£75,001 - Public Procurement Threshold	Invitation to tender issued either issued openly or to at least three suppliers
Over £214,904 including VAT (Public Procurement Threshold for supplies and services)	Procurement process subject to Public Contract Regulations 2015
Over £5,372,609 including VAT (Public Procurement Threshold for works)	Procurement process subject to Public Contract Regulations 2015

All documents issued will contain all the details necessary to submit a fully compliant bid. They typically include (but are not limited to):

the specification,
draft contract,
terms and conditions,
response pack
and mandatory declaration forms.

The opportunity must remain open for a set number of days (appropriate to the specific tender). You must respond within this period in order to be included in the tender. All dates and instructions will be stated within the documents. Once the closing date has passed, the bids submitted will be scored and evaluated to produce a winning supplier.

Preparing your bid or tender submission

We recommend you read all documents carefully and answer the opportunity based on our specific requirements with your best offer.

When preparing your bid or tender submission, ensure you make use of the clarification period to check anything that you may not be sure about. Clarifications should take place through the In-Tend System. Unless the question is considered commercially sensitive to your bid, questions and their answers will be circulated to all potential suppliers to ensure that no-one has an unfair advantage throughout the process.

We appreciate that for many suppliers, filling in a tender document is a daunting process. To help with this, we have produced an example Invitation to Tender, with example “good” and “poor” responses:

The evaluation process

All bid submissions, that meet the mandatory requirements stated within the tender documents, will be evaluated by a panel of council officers with a good understanding of the requirement, e.g. the project leader. All bids will be assessed by the criteria contained within the tender documents. The scores are then moderated to produce an overall winning score.

The contract is awarded as soon as possible after the evaluation process has been completed and authorisation (if required) has been obtained. All suppliers will then receive feedback and a breakdown of the areas of their response relative to the advantages of the winning bidder.

The contract lifecycle

Once the contract is up and running, it will be assigned a contract manager, either from the department that the procurement originated from or from the procurement team. Each contract is different and some may involve Key Performance Indicators (KPI’s) or a Service Level Agreement (SLA) to adhere to, which will regularly be reviewed. The contract manager will be responsible for ensuring that the minimum requirements are supplied, including the delivery of any promises made in your bid above the standard specification. The contract manager should be the first point of escalation for any disputes or changes within the contract.

Supplier financial status and any relevant certificates will also be checked on an annual basis.

Terms and conditions

Contracts register and procurement strategy

Feedback on procurement process or contract management

Should you have any concerns or feedback regarding procurement processes or contract management within the Authority, please inform the lead procurement officer by completing our supplier feedback form.

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