A very high proportion of our contract work is carried out by local businesses and our food procurement contracts specifically include local sourcing as an evaluation criterion with local food sourced wherever possible.
We are currently reviewing all the procurement policies to ensure they are as local-business friendly as possible while meeting EU tendering rules.
Agreements with larger developers include conditions on local labour recruitment and training. These are being included on the Polestar Paulton scheme and are proposed for inclusion on the Bath Western Riverside agreement.
Through the contract process the Council ensures that wherever possible local labour and apprentices are employed; for opportunities visit www.southwestiep.gov.uk. For example, at SouthGate, we encouraged suppliers to employ local labour.
We ensure that businesses are alerted to any tenders going out through our contract opportunities portal. This offers free supplier registration and options for receiving alerts from Bath & North East Somerset Council and four other local authorities on contract opportunities. Details of all Council tenders can be found at www.supplyingthesouthwest.org.uk and www.supply2.gov.uk.
We are also looking at new electronic procurement systems, including an e-marketplace that will enable suppliers to transact more easily and cost effectively with the Council and other suppliers. We are also working with other authorities to standardise and simplify the completion of contract documentation.
We continue to pay our suppliers promptly (over 93% are paid within 30 days). We will investigate whether payments to small and medium-sized businesses can be made closer to 10 days, and we will also consider using other methods such as switching to purchasing card systems.