WIREDGOV

The Metropolitan Police Service has announced that it will use CompeteFor to procure goods and services above £500 and under £50,000.  The online procurement tool, which was created for the London 2012 Games, will increase the accessibility and transparency of the Met’s contracts and give suppliers the opportunity to bid for work with other government supply chains.

CompeteFor advertises direct contracts with public sector buyers, such as the Metropolitan Police, and opens up thousands of private sector sub-contracts to small businesses.

The service was developed by the London Development Agency and the London Business Network, and is supported by London 2012.

The CompeteFor website matches buyers and suppliers within the Olympic supply chain, and has since been adopted by other the public sector buying organisations, such as Westminster City Council, Haringey Council and Transport for London. The system is also being used for the Crossrail project.

Over 8,500 opportunities have already been posted on CompeteFor from over 900 public and private sector buyers. To date over 6,000 awards have been made with an approximate value of £1.1 billion. Of these contracts, approximately 70% have been won by SMEs.

London Development Agency Deputy Chief Executive Lurene Joseph said:

Over the past three years CompeteFor has grown, from an innovative tool to open up London 2012 contracts to small businesses, to an incredibly successful way for any organisation to advertise their contract opportunities. The LDA's vision for the CompeteFor project has expanded and we are pleased the Metropolitan Police are joining the many other buying organisations who use CompeteFor to open up their contracts and opportunities."

Fay Davis of the Metropolitan Police Services’ Procurement Services team said:

CompeteFor is being implemented in order to identify suitable suppliers for purchases when the goods or services to be purchased are not available from an existing corporate contract.

By implementing CompeteFor, we will not only increase efficiency, but we’ll also be able to ensure that the MPS has access to a wide range of suppliers who have already signed up to a pre-defined set of conditions including health and safety, equal opportunities and environmental policies. CompeteFor also provides an open and transparent way for suppliers to compete for MPS business and ensure the MPS has a diverse supply base that represents the communities in which we are operating. This is just one objective contained within the MPS Responsible Procurement strategy.”

Any business, across the UK, can register on CompeteFor. Registration is free and only needs to be done once to gain access to thousands of contract opportunities. Visit www.competefor.com for more information.