Leicester City Council - Access to Public Procurement Project

Access to Public Procurement Project

Brief

The Access to Public Procurement Project (A2P) aimed to develop the capacity of SMEs in Leicestershire to win business from the public sector by enabling them to better understand the process and requirements for public sector procurement, which have been identified as major barriers to access.

Access to Public Procurement is now in the second phase of its project, but businesses can still access all of our previous information on our virtual networking website. Here you will find past presentations, FAQs, network with other companies and there is no cost for joining the A2P Network.

Research

Research has shown that there is a need for this type of intervention, and specifically that:

Over 70% of SMEs surveyed by Leicester City Council did not understand the Authority’s purchasing procedures
In a survey conducted by the Leicester Shire Economic Partnership, 32% of SMEs indicated that they would be interested in getting onto a list of approved contracts for public sector organisations.
Reasons for not wanting to be included on such a list included previous lack of previous experience and too much bureaucracy
Ethnic Minority businesses also found that the Leicester City Council procurement process was difficult to access because of the overly formalised processes
87% of suppliers surveyed indicated that they would be interested in attending supplier workshops

Complaints, Compliments and Comments

The Access to Public Procurement team is committed to providing a high standard of service to all its companies and clients.

If you would like to pass on a complaint, comment or compliment please use this form to inform us of your views.

Alternatively, if you require further information about this project please contact the A2P Team on a2p@leicester.gov.uk.