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Supplier Development Programme Helps Support Local Moray Businesses

SDP and Moray Council deliver training to local SMEs at first face-to-face training event in Elgin.

Working alongside Moray Council, the Supplier Development Programme (SDP), held the first of two training workshops aimed at improving local business access to the tender process last month.

The workshop followed positive feedback from the ‘Meet the Buyer North’ event and the launch of the full Supplier Development Programme locally in 2019, geared to help suppliers of a wide range of commodities and services to learn how to become ‘tender ready’ for government business.

Moray Council’s Payments Manager, Diane Beattie, said the recent workshop was a huge success for contractors and the public sector.

“I was surprised by the diversity of businesses that attended the workshop, all of whom had the potential to bid for public contracts,” she said.

“I had to remind myself that although I represent local authority procurement, the course was much wider than that and covered bidding for all public organisations.

“Every day is a school day and although I am ‘procuring’ day in day out, I learned a lot about what it means from the sellers point of view.”

A second workshop, to be held at The Inkwell, a supported business in Elgin, is scheduled for 19 February. Already, 20 companies have registered to attend.

The workshops are the first face-to-face SDP training ever delivered in Moray. Jennifer Payne, SDP Development Officer, said that the council’s partnership with the programme has enabled meaningful connections between buyers and suppliers throughout Scotland.

“It is clearly making a huge difference to suppliers, as 100% of attendees that responded to the post-event survey said that their business has improved its capability of bidding for more government contracts,” she said.

“Suppliers can find out about up and coming Moray contract opportunities in 2020, as well as the wider public sector in Scotland which spends £11bn per year nationally.”

Be sure to book a free place on the 19 February workshop with Moray Council, which covers tender procedures and the ESPD.

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