Over 100 local organisations registered to attend a special event, laid on by Northumberland County Council aimed at helping to support the local economy and employment. 

The free event took place at County Hall in Morpeth on Friday March 1 with the aim of helping organisations to do business with the council.  

The county council awards in excess of 300 contracts annually including contracts for construction, social care, utilities, ICT, education, transport and catering and wants to place its business locally wherever it can. 

The supplier event was aimed at helping local organisations to build a knowledge and understanding of how to write a good tender, the criteria the council is looking for and how to find out where the opportunities are. They were also told about  forthcoming legislation which is intended to help open up public procurement to all suppliers but particularly small businesses and social enterprises so that they can compete for and win more public contracts  

Deputy Leader of Northumberland County Council Richard Wearmouth said: “It was fantastic to see so many organisations represented and from the feedback we have received they found the event both informative and productive. 
 

“Northumberland County Council spends around £600 million every year on projects, goods and services. That’s a considerable amount of money for a rural county. 
 

“We really want to spend this money locally wherever we possibly can so we can support local businesses, help economic growth and boost employment in Northumberland.” 
 

“We know that the public sector procurement process can sometimes seem confusing, so this event was aimed at helping local businesses to be ready to bid for work not just from our council but from other councils and public bodies too.”