Working with the Public Sector

The public sector in Wales is complex and diverse with over 100 purchasing organisations and many hundreds of buyers. This is a huge market with spending over £4 billion a year on works, goods and services.

Public Sector bodies are subject to European Union (EU) Public Procurement Directives. These directives aim to ensure that public sector procurement promotes the free movement of supplies and services within the EU. This ensures honesty and transparency in public sector procurement.

Local Authorities follow rules for public contracts which are dependant on the contract value. Over certain thresholds Public Sector organisations must advertise their contracts in the Official Journal of the European Union (OJEU), these will also appear on the National Procurement website – sell2wales. A large majority of Welsh Public Sector bodies also publish contracts below the European threshold on www.sell2wales.co.uk.

Current European Thresholds as at 1 January 2006:

The course is entirely free of charge and you may also be able to receive a business start-up grant upon completion of a successful business plan.

• Supplies Contracts £144,371
• Services Contracts £144,371
• Works Contracts £3,611,319

City and County of Swansea

The council currently operates a devolved procurement system which is supported by the Strategic Procurement Unit.

There is an Approved List of Contractors and Suppliers used for procurement below the European Union procurement directive thresholds.

The council also advertises contracts through the Sell2wales website www.sell2wales.co.uk and the European Journal, also accessible through the Sell2wales website.

To allow for forthcoming reviews and changes to operating systems under the council’s eGovernment programme, new applications to the Approved List have been suspended. The council has opened a website on which suppliers may register an expression of interest for future consideration.

The website address is swansea.alito.co.uk.

The attached document contains navigation and guidance notes for the website which also has some onscreen assistance.

Download the Guidelines for Suppliers PDF

For more information please click on the link below to City and County of Swansea’s procurement webpages.

www.swansea.gov.uk/index.cfm?articleid=11757.

For information on business support available to help you tender for work with the Public Sector, click to read about the Local Supplier Development Project here.