Depending on what you want to sell to the council, there are different ways to find contract opportunities. Use this page to find relevant opportunities for your organisation.
Supplying the Southwest
Supplying the Southwest is an online procurement portal. From here, we manage and list our available contracts. We use this to buy most of our goods, works and services.
To be considered for any contract for goods, works or services, you first need to register with Supplying the South West to access contracts and instructions on how to begin your application.
For general guidance, please read our step-by-step guide
Register for Supplying the Southwest
External frameworks
An external framework is a type of agreement which is hosted by an external organisation (for example, Crown Commercial Services). The external organisation set up and manage an 'umbrella' contract that councils can USE easily and quickly to buy goods, works and services. An external framework provides an 'off the shelf' agreement, where certain elements of the contract are pre-agreed.
As a potential supplier, you will need to register with the organisations offering external frameworks to be considered for future opportunities.
For guidance on how to use external frameworks, please see their individual websites for instructions and support.
Benefits of using external frameworks
We use external frameworks for the following reasons:
- They offer a fast, efficient and easy to use procurement route for us and you
- They are used by many local authorities (potentially exposing your organisation to more business opportunities)
- They simplify the procurement process (saving valuable time and resource)
- They offer pre-agreed contracts, eliminating the need for legal intervention in most cases
Commonly used external frameworks
We use external frameworks to procure everything from our stationary to consultancy services. Most external frameworks are best suited to a type of goods, work or service. The external framework we use will depend on what we need to buy.
When procuring, we explore the external frameworks listed below. Please note, each of these external frameworks offer extremely broad ranges of goods, works and services.
We have procured stationary, property consultancy, technology purchases and office furniture through CSS, but they provide a huge range of goods, works and services.
Visit the website to see if they are suitable for your organisation and register to be considered for future contracts.
We have procured consultancy and professional advisors through Matrix MM.
Visit the website to see if they are suitable for your organisation and register to be considered for future contracts.
When using Matrix MM, the registration process is comprised of the following steps:
- Register online, providing company information
- Matrix MM review and approve registration. If successful, you will receive further documents to complete and return
- Matrix MM review and approve second set of documents
- Registration is complete, you will be able to access the platform and be notified of new opportunities
We have procured consultancy, translation and interpretation, office furniture and agency staff through ESPO, but their range is far broader.
Visit the website to see if they are suitable for your organisation and register to be considered for future contracts.
We have purchased corporate travel, consultancy and pre-payment cards through NEPO, though their range of goods, works and services is very broad.
Visit the website to see if they are suitable for your organisation and register to be considered for future contracts.
We have purchased vehicle tracking and monitoring and consultancy through YPO, but they offer a huge range, from stationary to energy solutions.
Visit the website to see if they are suitable for your organisation and register to be considered for future contracts.
We have purchased consultancy and professional advisors through SEWTAPS, but they offer a broad range of services.
SEWTAPS have also provided some useful resources, where you can read a user guide to help you navigate the process.