Support for Businesses

The Council accepts contracting with a diverse range of suppliers will make a contribution toward achieving its wider social, economic and environmental objectives outlines in the Corporate Plan.

We recognise the important contribution that local businesses, small and medium enterprises (SMEs), social enterprises, voluntary and community organisations can make to the delivery of public services and the vital role these organisation play in the national and local economy. We are therefore committed to making the most of the benefits offered by them.

The SME Concordat outlines how we will make our contracts more accessible.

SME Concordat

The Council has adopted an SME concordat, which states the actions the Council will take to make their contracts more accessible to SMEs and other third sector organisations.

In summary the SME concordat will:

Actively encourage early engagement and discussion between the Council and suppliers.
Promote enhanced communications and encourage openness and transparency between the parties

Please click here to view the full SME concordat

Public Sector Procurement Toolkit:

Supply2Cov has produced a Public Sector Procurement Toolkit on CD which is available to any Coventry based businesses with postcodes CV1 through to CV6. To have the toolkit posted to you please e-mail procurement.services@coventry.gov.uk with your name, company name, address (including postcode).

The Useful Weblinks and Publications section below has links to additional guidance and toolkits on public sector procurement.

Do You Wish to Tender for Coventry City Council Contracts?

Your business can benefit from employing local people and businesses to deliver your contract. We can help you to save on transport costs, reduce delivery times, recruit effectively and benefit from local expertise...

Subcontracting? We would like our contractors to consider Coventry businesses for subcontracting opportunities. We can help you do this by:

Offering space on our tender opportunities pages
Helping you search for local suppliers

To find out more, contact Procurement Services on 024 7683 3757

Advice for Local Businesses:

Register on our new e-tendering system: www.coventry.gov.uk/etendering - It's FREE and EASY. You will:

Show you are interested in trading with us
Receive e-mail bulletins of any open tenders for your area of business
Be visible to Council employees during their quote or tender selection process
Receive invites to procurement training events relevant to your area of business

Regularly check this website, www.coventry.gov.uk/procurement - It's where we advertise our current tender opportunities. You can also access:

A 'Selling to the Council Guide'
Details of our policies, procedures and codes of practice

Other Local Support Agencies

There are a host of business support opportunities in Coventry that can help your business develop and become more competitive in your market place. Listed below are useful links to Coventry based business support regeneration programmes and organisations.

LEGI
www.legicoventry.co.uk

Coventry and Warwickshire Chamber of Commerce
www.cw-chamber.co.uk

Coventry and Warwickshire Co-operative Development Agency
www.cwcda.co.uk

Amazon Initiatives
www.amazon-initiatives.org.uk

Coventry University Enterprises
www.coventry.ac.uk/business

Federation of Small Businesses, Coventry Branch
www.fsb.org.uk/093

Coventry First
www.coventryfirst.co.uk

Useful Weblinks and Publications

"Before signing on the dotted line: all you need to know about procuring public sector contracts" - NCVO - Sustainable Funding Project in Partnership with Future builders
www.ncvo-vol.org.uk

"Public Procurement guidance and Online tutorials"
www.publicprocurement.co.uk

Futurebuilders England: Investing and the Third Sector improving public services
www.futurebuilders-england.org.uk

"Successful Tendering" by Tenders Direct
www.tendersdirect.co.uk/Training/TrainingCourses.aspx

Procurement support for local businesses