Orkney Islands Council

Small to Medium Enterprise Development 

We are dedicated to working with local businesses including voluntary sector organisations, and social enterprises, encouraging them to tender for council contracts and providing support and guidance wherever we can. 

Our aim is to: 

• Develop better procurement support for local businesses. 

• Understand any barriers that the business may encounter, and endeavour to remove any unnecessary obstacles. 

• Understand each other's needs. 

• Ensure opportunities are maximised. 

Our objectives are to: 

• Proactively engage with local businesses throughout the county and surrounding areas through a series of seminars, training sessions and face-to-face meetings. 

• Develop relationships with local businesses to gain an understanding of their capabilities and to help them to understand our requirements. 

• Ensure tendering processes are kept as clear and simple as possible to minimise costs and wherever possible to package large tenders into smaller lots. 

• Provide guidance, support and training opportunities in areas such as e-procurement; how to tender for Council opportunities; environment management systems; health and safety; sustainability. 

 

e-Procurement 

We are keen to develop our electronic procurement capability and will shortly be taking steps to take this a step further by adopting e-purchasing, which will enable the Council to trade with its suppliers electronically. We are also exploring other means of electronic procurement including the use of e-tendering and the use of purchase cards. 

 

Useful links 

How To Do Business With OIC 

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