Council to increase spending with local businesses
In a determined bid to support local businesses and protect local jobs, South Tyneside Council has launched a major new initiative called 'Supply South Tyneside.'
Over the next five years the council is aiming to boost the borough's economy by increasing its spending with local firms, regardless of their payment address, from £51million to a massive £80.5million by 2017.
It will also work with South Tyneside based businesses to help them find out about, bid for and win public sector contracts worth many thousands of pounds.
Councillor Ed Malcolm, Lead Member Resources and Innovation, said: "The Council and its partners are committed to help local businesses and are proactively doing something to support the economic growth of the borough. In order to achieve this massive increase in spending with local firms and businesses we have to make amendments to the Council's constitution and to change the regulations on procurement.
"The whole idea is to spend more Council money locally and to allow as many local firms as possible to compete for contracts to supply goods and services. There can be no guarantees that the new policy will mean that local businesses will secure contracts locally. However there is a firm commitment from the Council to provide additional advice and support so that local suppliers maximise their chances to access procurement opportunities."
Latest figures show that last year the Council spent £161million on goods and services and of this £51million (32 per cent) was spent locally. The target is to increase the amount of money spent with local businesses from 32 per cent to 40 per cent in 2013/14, then to at least 50 per cent in 2016/17.
If spending levels remain the same in future years the 'Supply South Tyneside' initiative would mean an additional £29.5million (£80.5million in total) being spent with local businesses - bringing a massive boost to the local economy.
The Council's procurement is delivered through its partnership with BT South Tyneside and the 'Supply South Tyneside' initiative has been drawn up after detailed discussions with the Council and its partners.
The main changes being introduced are financial thresholds for the minimum number of local businesses contacted for quotes when specific opportunities arise
For supplies and services under £75,000 the Council will contact at least two local suppliers and two non local suppliers and invite them to tender. For works and construction under £150,000 at least three local companies will be invited to tender. These changes will increase the opportunity for local businesses to win these contracts.
The Council is also offering specialist support to South Tyneside businesses to help them source, bid for and win contracts from the public sector. Support is tailored to meet the needs of the business - this could be around policies and procedures or assistance completing tender documentation. Support will be delivered by Business to Business and includes FREE one-to-one support from specialist procurement advisers as well as numerous FREE training events. For further information see Supply South Tyneside
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Background
'Supply South Tyneside' was launched in October 2011 at South Shields Town Hall, when more than 140 local businesses were invited to attend to meet Council representatives and other organisations to network and see how they could do business with them.
A mixture of local public sector organisations including the Council, South Tyneside Homes, South Tyneside NHS Foundation Trust and South Tyneside College were present alongside some major private sector organisations including FHM, Balfour Beatty, ISS Waterers, and Northumbrian Water.
Training workshops focused on useful selling techniques and skills such as sales and marketing, the procurement process, health and safety, presentation skills, and how to find upcoming tender opportunities).
Over 75 per cent rated the event as either "excellent" or "good". The remainder rated it "fair" and more than 82 per cent of people who came along said they would attend a similar event in the future.
