Doing business with the Council

How we do business

Our Commissioning and Procurement Plan is an accessible guide to how we work. It sets out our aims and priorities for the things we buy and explains how we build maximum social and financial value into every contract opportunity.

On this page you will find links to live contract opportunities, our upcoming commissioning intentions, our contract list, and information on how you can find support to bid for contracts.

The Procurement Act 2023 and Newcastle City Council

Supplier Update – April 2024

The rules governing public procurement are changing - the new Procurement Act will change and reform the way public procurement is done.

New Legislation is estimated to go live on the 28th of October 2024. 
The Cabinet Office have stated: -

‘’We are working towards a ‘go-live’ date for the new regime of 28 October 2024. This date will be formalised in Commencement Regulations which we expect to be made in May. Existing legislation will apply until the new regime goes live and will also continue to apply to procurements started under the old rules’’.

The Legislation is replacing Public Contracts Regulations 2015, currently in use.

Newcastle City Council are working with The Government Commercial Function, Transforming Public Procurement and the North East Procurement Organisation (NEPO) regarding the new legislation.

The Procurement Act will affect all commissioning and procurement teams plus other staff whose work touches on procurement and our current and potential suppliers.

Transforming Public Procurement have produced a series of short video for suppliers on the changes, please see the links below. 
1.   KD3: Knowledge Drop for Suppliers part 1
2.   KD3: Knowledge Drop for Suppliers part 2
3.   KD3: Knowledge Drop for Suppliers part 3
 

The Council are internally planning and training over the coming months to prepare for the new act.

Please check here for regular updates.

Further useful links: -  

https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/653bad5ce6c9680014aa9c58/The_Procurement_Act_2023_-_a_short_guide_for_suppliers.pdf

https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/transforming-public-procurement

https://www.nepo.org/procurement-reform
 

Find live contract opportunities

Open opportunities over £25,000

We publish all of our competitive contract opportunities over £25,000 on the NEPO portal along with the other North East local authorities.

If you would like to work with the Council you can register on this portal, free of charge, here. Once registered you will receive automatic alerts as new contract opportunities are published for a category/delivery area you are interested in.

For the publication of new procurement notices Find A Tender has replaced the Official Journal of the European Union's Tenders Electronic Daily (OJEU/TED) and provides a UK wide gov.uk search function for the publication and viewing of high value new procurement notices (usually above £138,760 - including VAT). 

For lower value opportunities worth over £12,000 (including VAT) in England this information can be found via gov.uk Contracts Finder

Consultancy and training opportunities of any value

If you offer a  consultancy or training service our live opportunities are published on the Bloom website. You need to register with Bloom to bid for these opportunities.

 Please contact Bloom directly to undertake this simple process at projects@bloom.services or 020 3948 9400 .

Awarded contracts

You can view our awarded contracts on the NEPO portal.

Support to bid

You can access a range of support through the Council's business support partners to help improve your chances of bidding successfully:

• The NEPO Supplier Partnership Programme offers free training and networking events for local organisations in areas such as bid writing, understanding procurement, and developing social value in your business
• Our Business and Intellectual Property Centre (BIPC) offers free support on intellectual property, and provides training events on things like content marketing, and developing innovative practice

Find out more about the support offered and book training via their websites at the links above.