Tip of the Day - Horizon Scanning

Missing out on a contract because you didn’t spot the advert can be infuriating, particularly if it happens on multiple occasions.  To make sure this doesn’t happen, you need to know where to look, as well as what to look for.

The two websites I use every day to see what new contracts are coming out include:

·         Government Contract Finder - https://online.contractsfinder.businesslink.gov.uk/

·         The Official Journal of the European Journal - http://ted.europa.eu/TED/main/HomePage.do

Neither website is particularly user friendly, but after a bit of practice you will know how to use it.  As I focus on Health and Social Care, I’ll give a few easy steps as to how to find these opportunities through contract finder:

·         On the home page click on Advanced Search

·         Under What type of information should we show you? Click on Live Opportunities

·         On the left-hand menu below this, click on by CPV Code

·         To the right then click Browse CPV Codes

·         Scroll down on the menu then select Health and social work services – 85000000 (it may also be worth selecting Other community, social and personal services – 98000000)

·         At the bottom of the page click Search

·         This will then give you all the live opportunities. For ease of use I suggest sorting it by Publication Date, this will give you the newest opportunities first

As a final tip, do not rely on email alerts from either website, I would suggest you manually check or get someone to do so for you every day.  This way, you hopefully won’t miss anything.