Advice for farmers and producers wanting to supply the public sector

Advice and links to help guide farmers and producers wanting to join the public sector supply chain


Using the Government's Contracts Finder


Use the Government Contracts Finder to search for contract opportunities and find out what’s coming up in future. You can create an account to get email updates; though you can also search and apply for contracts without an account.

https://www.gov.uk/contracts-finder.


To find and apply for high value contracts (usually above £118,000) register on ‘Find a tender’ https://www.gov.uk/find-tender



To become a supplier to the NHS


To become a supplier to the NHS, see the information on https://www.supplychain.nhs.uk/suppliers/useful-information/


Email the Supplier Relationship Management team via: suppliers@supplychain.nhs.uk


The Love British Food team works closely with the food team on NHS Improvement.  We are providing an service for farmers introducing them to the Catering Manager in their local hospital.  If you would like our help in finding who to approach in your local hospital, please email: info@lovebritishfood.co.uk .



To supply schools and prisons

To supply schools and prisons, you need to register with Crown Commercial.


There is advice on doing so on: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/become-a-crown-commercial-service-supplier


Contacting your local care home group, hospital or school direct

You can also contact your local hospital, school, university or care home group direct. Their membership organisations will put you in touch with the relevant catering manager:


Universities: contact The University Caterers Organisation (TUCO) https://www.tuco.ac.uk/procurement/become-supplier


Schools: contact via LACA the school food people: https://laca.co.uk/frameworks


Care homes: contact via The National Association of Care Catering https://www.thenacc.co.uk/contact-us


Scotland 


Local authorities in Scotland can source direct but they can also benefit from consolidating volume through a national centre of procurement, Scotland Excel, which manages tenders and contracts with suppliers for the whole of Scotland and is very efficient.


See the advice on http://www.scotland-excel.org.uk


Love British Food's partners on the NHS England Improvement team have provided farmers with this check list to help with the decision making process when considering if you can supply your local NHS Trust: 

 

  • Has suitable contact been made to the Trust to define confidence of a firm agreement – Catering Manager / Budget Holder / Procurement Lead?


  • Are you able to agree a specialist contract as a local supplier?


  • What will the terms and conditions be for the delivery, invoicing and payment scheduling?


  • Is there a reference site that can be shared with the proposed buyer?


  • Have you got a full understanding of the expectations as well as the variety of produce required by the Trust?


  • Are you able to arrange a visit or tasting session for the accountable people from the Trust?


  • Is the Trust linked to the HCA and can you be invited to a local branch meeting to share the positive experience?


  • Do you have the necessary audit certification – preferably STS?


  • Are you able to reference the benefit of quality versus cost?


  • Are you able to visibly share the full transparency of the products to show a locality benefit?
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