Brighton & Hove Council's new eSourcing portal

Brighton & Hove City Council is moving towards conducting much of its procurement processes online. This means running tenders and quotes online via a web portal. The online solution is secure and will allow suppliers to express interest, view and download documents and submit their responses electronically. This process is known as eSourcing.

At the moment the Corporate Procurement Team are leading the way on the new system which means that all tenders or opportunities that come through the team for contracts with the Council will be advertised and managed online via the eSourcing system.

The Corporate Procurement Team manage the large value or more complex contracts but in time the intention is that lower value contracts will also be let via this system. We also provide advice to existing and potential suppliers, on how to do business with the Council, as well as advice to Council departments on any procurement matters. Please see the web pages for more details

One of the main drivers for moving procurement processes online is to make contract opportunities as easy as possible to access and reduce time and costs associated with preparing bids in an area we know can seem resource intensive, particularly for the small to medium businesses (SME) and third sector organisations.

Whether you are an existing, or potentially a new supplier to the Council this will offer you, a number of benefits including, the ability to set up your own supplier account and submit your responses electronically. You will also be able to save your submissions and all communications in one easily accessible place, online, at no extra cost.

When you are successful in winning a contract you can also manage it online via the system if appropriate. The electronic contract management module is also being rolled out across the Council. This allows documents and messages to be held in one place. It is also possible to have reminders set so that various tasks can be completed and reminders sent out in good time, this should lead to better advanced warning and more transparency around the contracts we have and when they will expire.

Your contract documents can then be stored online for you and the Council representatives to see and refer too. Meetings notes etc can be stored against each contract and the system gives you a history of contracts you have or bids / tenders or quotes etc that you have applied for.

If you have a contract already with the Council, you may have received a letter asking you to register. Please do so here  even if you have not received a letter. There is nothing to lose but it could make doing business with the Council a little more streamlined and you will only need to register your organisation once. You will also potentially have access to other organisations, contract opportunities, who are also using this system.

Please feel free to contact us via the Council Procurement Web Pages if you want any more information.

If you want to contribute to the Chamber blog, contact us on hannah@brightonchamber.co.uk