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Meet the Buyer 2020 Round-up: East Renfrewshire Council

Meet the Buyer 2020: Live Virtual event

On 2 June, the Supplier Development Programme (SDP) organised virtual activities to mark the occasion of what would have been the 12th annual Meet the Buyer event. While the face-to-face event was postponed, SDP carried out a “Twitter Takeover” of its account with buyers from Fife Council, East Renfrewshire Council, South Ayrshire Council and Scottish Government Procurement. This social media activity was complemented by two free SDP tender training webinars on Dynamic Purchasing Systems and Frameworks with Scotland Excel, and a “how-to” interactive session on using Public Contracts Scotland, the national public sector tender portal for Scotland. This round-up outlines what was said during East Renfrewshire Council's Twitter Takeover of the SDP Twitter account as part of Meet the Buyer 2020: Live Virtual Event activities.

East Renfrewshire Council used the time on the SDP Twitter account to discuss the topic, “Progressing the Procurement Pipeline and Future Opportunities with East Renfrewshire Council.” Members of staff from the Corporate Procurement Team and Economic Development Team at East Renfrewshire Council were on hand to answer questions during an hour slot on the SDP Twitter account.

Opening Tweets

The first questions to the East Renfrewshire Team were asked about upcoming contract opportunities from suppliers.

Online Trading Network

East Renfrewshire Council then turned attention to the Online Trading Network (OTN). The OTN is a Council directory where companies can register their business to be considered for low value opportunities. Council officers are directed to use the OTN when looking for suitable suppliers to be invited to Quick Quote for goods and services (above £10,000 and under £50,000), and works (above £20,000 and under £150,000). To participate in Quick Quotes businesses must also be registered with PCS.

The OTN can also be used to support purchases for lower value goods and service opportunities up to £10,000 and works up to a value of £20,000 where the procuring department are required to obtain best value and ensure fairness.

East Renfrewshire Council encourages all local businesses to register for the OTN as it continues to promote and encourage supplier development in the local area. (Please note: registering for the OTN does not constitute any form of approved supplier status.)

Economic Recovery Plan for East Renfrewshire

Suppliers were asked for their views on what areas in which their business needs support to form a East Renfrewshire Council COVID-19 Economic Recovery Plan. Suppliers can email East Renfrewshire Council's Economic Development team directly or visit the Economic Development website section for more information.

Quick Quotes

East Renfrewshire Council uses Quick Quotes on Public Contracts Scotland for goods, services and works. Be sure to mark in your Supplier Finder Profile that you're interested in working in the East Renfrewshire area if you want to be invited to Quick Quote!

Future Supplier Engagement

East Renfrewshire is interested in holding local supplier engagement events after restrictions from COVID-19 are lifted, and asked what suppliers would like to see developed. Suppliers can email East Renfrewshire Council's Procurement team directly or visit the Corporate Procurement website section for more information.

Community Benefits

East Renfrewshire Council looks for the overall value that a supplier can bring, especially to higher value contracts through the creation of jobs, apprenticeships and local community projects. Suppliers may be interested in learning more about Community Benefits and how to do business with East Renfrewshire Council.
In response, the East Renfrewshire Council team received another question!

Glasgow City Region City Deal

City Region Deals are agreements between the UK Government, Scottish Government, local authorities and other partners to invest in cities and regions. They are designed to bring about long-term strategic approaches to improving regional economies. They are implemented by regional partners and overseen by the Scottish City Region Deal Delivery Board. Each Deal is tailored to its city region, reflecting its individual economic strengths and weaknesses, and comprises a programme of interventions to support positive, transformative change. East Renfrewshire Council highlighted to suppliers that new, upcoming opportunities related to the Glasgow City Region City Deal will be posted on Public Contracts Scotland.

Business Gateway in East Renfrewshire

Funding for Local Business

East Renfrewshire Council staff then highlighted three sources of funding for local businesses.

COVID-19 Business Support

Property
Business Loans Scotland

Supplier Questions

East Renfrewshire Council was then asked a question about upcoming contracts by a supplier that replied to an earlier tweet from Fife Council!

Final Tweets

East Renfrewshire Council gave further information on procurement and tendering before finishing its hour of participation in SDP's Twitter Takeover, as part of the Meet the Buyer 2020: Live Virtual Event.

However, there was one final question for East Renfrewshire Council! In answering, Procurement gave top tips to suppliers: read the question and get in touch with the procurement lead for the project for help, if required.The East Renfrewshire Council team then turned control of the SDP Scotland Twitter account over to South Ayrshire Council for the next hour of the Twitter Takeover.

Analytics

During one hour, East Renfrewshire Council sent 23 tweets from the SDP Scotland Twitter account as part of the Meet the Buyer 2020: Live Virtual Event. The tweets earned 4,863 impressions (the number of times users saw a Tweet on Twitter) and 188 engagements (total number of times a user interacted with a Tweet). East Renfrewshire Council's tweets earned one retweet, 41 likes and 10 replies.

Further Information

The 2021 Meet the Buyer event is scheduled to take place on 8 June 2021 at the EICC. For more information, contact the Supplier Development Programme by email at info@sdpscotland.co.uk.

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