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Media Release: Public sector leaders bring small business contract opportunities to Moray at 5th annual Meet the Buyer North event

The Supplier Development Programme (SDP) will hold the fifth annual Meet the Buyer North event on Wednesday, 7 September as an in-person event at the Alexander Graham Bell Centre for Digital Health centre on the UHI Moray campus in Elgin.

Partnered by the Scottish Government, this event will allow local businesses based in Moray, Aberdeenshire, Aberdeen City, Highland, Orkney Islands, Western Isles, and Shetland Islands Councils to connect directly with the public sector to learn about upcoming contracts and opportunities worth £13.3bn in Scotland.

“Meet the Buyer North is an unmissable opportunity for businesses to spend one day out of the office to meet buyers and upsell their products and services through one-to-one networking,” said Gillian Cameron, SDP programme manager.

“Hosting this event in Elgin will be a real boon for the local Moray Council economy and further support businesses right across the North of Scotland to connect with potential customers in the public sector.”

“There are fantastic benefits to having a public sector buyer as a customer for small businesses, including getting paid within 30 days as a legal maximum, which offers cashflow they can count on.”

In addition to exhibitions from the Scottish Government, confirmed exhibitors will include buyers from Moray, Aberdeen City, Aberdeenshire, and Highland Councils.

Buyers looking to connect with local businesses across the region also include Highlands and Islands Enterprise, the Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA), Historic Environment Scotland, Scottish Fire and Rescue Service, and Social Security Scotland.

Other exhibiting organisations include Scottish Procurement Alliance, PfH Scotland, Scotland Excel, Advanced Procurement for Universities and Colleges (APUC), and the UK’s largest public sector buying organisation, Crown Commercial Service.

Mitie will be exhibiting to talk about supply chain opportunities for several of its customers in the public sector, including the provision of Hard FM for The Scottish Government and its five strategic partner organisations, covering buildings located across the Scottish mainland and islands.

More exhibitions are still being confirmed.

Gillian Cameron continued: “We are concentrating on optimising one-to-one networking opportunities that were so lacking during the last couple of years due to the pandemic, and firms will be able to ask about how to do business with Growth Deals and the Aberdeen Hydrogen Hub.

“Businesses that can bring innovation to the public sector are encouraged to connect with the Defence and Security Accelerator which has just launched the Defence Technology Exploitation Programme (DTEP), a £16 million programme to boost small and medium-sized enterprise (SME) defence innovation.”

“No business is too small to find a contract in the public sector, and the Supplier Development Programme is proud to work in partnership with the Scottish Government and our local authority partners to support more local businesses to find, win and keep public sector contracts at Meet the Buyer North.”

The Meet the Buyer North event on 7 September is free to attend.

Businesses must register for free tickets via www.sdpscotland.co.uk in advance.