Case studies

City of Edinburgh Council Facilitates Transparency in Hard FM Supply Chain with Supplier Development Programme

City of Edinburgh Council approached the Supplier Development Programme (SDP) to deliver a free Talking Tenders webinar event, supplemented by one-to-one meetings between outgoing suppliers from the previous framework and the potential new Delivery Partners.

The commercial property repair and maintenance programme contract opportunity is for a 10-year period and the estimated contract value is £150m - £180m. In December 2020, in partnership with SDP, The City of Edinburgh Council engaged with suppliers of all sizes to fulfil the requirements of this procurement exercise. Potential manufacturers, suppliers and sub-contractors interested in potential forthcoming sub-contracting opportunities related to this tender exercise attended a ‘Talking Tenders’ webinar in a morning session.

“The facilitation of opportunities for SMEs remains a key priority for the Council and we were delighted to provide a platform for SMEs to engage with the bidders on the Hard FM Services tender. It was great to have the support of SDP in reaching out to SMEs and presenting our aspirations for the Project. A huge thank you to everyone who attended, and we hope the event was helpful and provided a good insight into our plans for transforming how we deliver Hard FM services,” said Kelly Faulds of The City of Edinburgh Council.

Supplier feedback was positive, and commenting on the morning webinar session, one supplier said: “The webinar was informative.” Another commented: “We currently work with most of the shortlisted FM companies and look forward to speaking to them all regarding the Framework.”

To rectify unforeseen technical issues experienced at the event, SDP shared a recording of the full webinar, including introduction films from the bidders, on YouTube after the webinar had concluded. In total, 93% of the Scottish SMEs that participated in the webinar said they were more likely to bid for the opportunity with the successful Tier 1 suppliers as a direct result of the information they received. The Tier 1 suppliers were also supplied the details of all SMEs in attendance for further contact.

In the afternoon, SDP facilitated virtual direct meetings between outgoing suppliers from a previous framework and the potential primary contractors to provide opportunity for inclusion in future supply chains, via Microsoft Teams. It was organised by SDP as a ‘speed networking’ session, virtually, and all suppliers had the opportunity to directly engage one-to-one with the potential primary contractors.

One potential Primary Contractor said: “It was great to meet some of City of Edinburgh Council’s supply chain and I believe we had, and encouraged, some very open and honest conversations about how we work. We definitely gained great feedback from the supply chain regarding our company.”

An outgoing SME supplier noted: “The City of Edinburgh Council Procurement Team’s input and vison for the contract was immensely useful. We feel more confident about the new process having engaged with the FM companies.”