Selling to the council

What are the options?

The county council has a small central procurement function named Procurement Lincolnshire who deal with corporate contracts / tendering services over certain thresholds for goods, services and works.

However much of the routine procurement activity of the council is handled by various directorates who have their own purchasing resources in respect of their specialist requirements (e.g. home care in Social Services). In this regard some directorates tend to procure goods and services independently of each other.

Procurement Lincolnshire

Procurement Lincolnshire works on behalf of all the 8 local authorities in Lincolnshire, including Lincolnshire County Council. They offer support and advice (if they know of any current frameworks set by ESPO, for example) to any employee undertaking a procurement process. However for any tenders over 75k Procurement Lincolnshire tend to get involved to ensure rules and regulations are adhered and also to encourage other aspects such as sustainability issues.

For more information please visit their website by following links under the ‘Weblinks’ tab.

ESPO

ESPO (Eastern Shires Purchasing Organisation) is an external organisation part owned by this council. Any organisation wishing to be considered as a potential supplier to the council is best advised to contact ESPO initially as they currently supply most equipment and supplies. They also let frameworks which Procurement Lincolnshire often advises employees to tap into.

ESPO can be contacted via the link at the bottom of the page. Information on how to become a supplier to ESPO is included on their website, which you can get to by going to the ‘Weblinks’ tab.