Public Procurement and Property

Hello from the Supplier Development Programme (SDP)!

August 13, 2019 by Jennifer Payne No Comments | Category buyers, Central Government Procurement Shared Services, Guest Blog, Meet the Buyer, Meet the Buyer North, Procurement news, SMEs, Supplier Development Programme, suppliers

The SDP was established 11 years ago. We are a partnership of local authorities, Scottish Government and other public bodies that works together to support Scottish-based SMEs in all aspects of tendering.

Making you tender ready

We help businesses that are often too small to have dedicated bid/tender resources to be able to think about bidding for public sector contracts. SDP aims to help such businesses become what we call ‘tender ready’. In Scotland there is an annual public spend of £11billion and in the UK the figure is £240billion – being tender ready improves your prospects of winning some of that business! We deliver this support through a programme of free training and events, including…

The North of Scotland is Open for Business: Meet the Buyer North 2019

We are holding the second annual Meet the Buyer North event on Wednesday 4 September at Macdonald Aviemore Resort. Confirmed headline partners include Scottish Government and Highlands and Islands Enterprise.

The open and transparent model we use for our Meet the Buyer events is different to most exhibitions and trade shows, in that public sector buyers are the exhibitors. Hundreds of businesses attend to meet procurement officers face-to-face. It costs precious time and effort for suppliers to find contacts for procurement departments and upcoming contracts. Not to mention travel time for meetings and time spent out of the office to network. Meet the Buyer North 2019 brings together buyers from Scotland and the UK’s public sector, private contractors and business support providers. All under one roof!

A golden opportunity

Are you a public sector buyer in the north of Scotland? Or a tier one contractor wanting to open your supply chain? This free event offers businesses a unique chance to meet buyers and decision makers from across the public and private sector. It’s a golden opportunity for SMEs to raise business profiles and prepare for upcoming contract opportunities. We’ve even put together a guide on how to optimise your time on the day.

There will also be a programme of speakers and workshops, where you can hear from a range of expert speakers. This year’s agenda will feature Moray Council and Scottish Government Cyber Resilience team, as well as Crown Commercial Services. Non-SME suppliers are also welcome. Check out our website to see which SDP members and exhibitors are going to be there.

Building on success

Meet the Buyer North 2018 in Inverness was a smash success. Over 400 people attended and gave highly positive feedback. 89% of suppliers rated their overall event experience as either good or excellent, while 62% of suppliers said they would definitely or very likely bid for public contracts after attending the event.

There are still exhibition opportunities for public sector buyers and tier one contractors available for 2019. For more information, contact info@sdpscotland.co.uk. If you know businesses that want to find, win and keep public sector contracts in Scotland, encourage them to attend Meet the Buyer North 2019.

See you there!

Tags: buyers, Meet the Buyer North, networking, Open for business, Public sector contracts, SDP, SMEs, tender ready, tendering

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