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Sign in or register for an accountDo you work with Salford City Council supplying goods, works or services, or might you be interested in doing so in the future?
If so, this message is really important. We’re letting you know public procurement is changing. On 24 February 2025, the rules that shape how public bodies buy goods and services will change, and we want to make sure our partners that we contract with and who may want to work with us in the future are ready and prepared.
We want to develop a strong partnership with suppliers, businesses, social enterprises, and community and voluntary groups to deliver our priorities, and we’re keen to update and support you with these changes.
The Procurement Act 2023 aims to make procurement simpler for both contracting authorities and suppliers of all sizes, particularly small businesses, start-ups and social enterprises.
The main impact suppliers will see is the introduction of improvements to the Find a Tender Service to create a Central Digital Platform (CDP), where suppliers must be registered in order to bid for Public Procurement Contracts.
The government are designing the system to capture core business details that can be used for multiple bids, so suppliers only need to fill in their details once. The platform will be free to use, and will make opportunities more visible, allowing for searches and alerts to be set up. The platform is designed to be a simple registration process, but if you have any concerns or need any support, please get in touch.
As a supplier of Salford City Council or a local business who may be interested in working with us in the future, it’s really important you sign up to the platform when it is introduced later this month. In order to support suppliers to get ready for the new platform, the Government Commercial Function have created a dedicated section for suppliers, including how to videos and guides available. These are available below:
Information and guidance for suppliers - GOV.UK
You are likely to need the types of information you would complete if filling in forms for council tender opportunities, known as Pre-Qualification Questionnaires or PQQs, to input on to the platform. This includes information about your organisation such as:
It may be important to plan ahead for who will sign up to the platform from your organisation, so that you are in control of the information published and who has access. Remember, this will be a public record of your business, that contracting authorities and other suppliers may use to find out more about:
You can use the platform to identify opportunities you might be interested in when authorities publish preliminary market engagement notices.