SME procurement opportunities to be showcased

On Wednesday 6^th December, Lord Bates, Minister of State for International Development will outline future procurement opportunities for local businesses at an event co-ordinated by the Leeds City Region Enterprise Partnership (LEP) and Department for International Development (DFID).

Roger Marsh OBE, Chair of the LEP, who will also be speaking at the event, said:

“I’m delighted that Lord Bates, and representatives from DFID, will be coming to Leeds to talk about their important overseas work and real procurement opportunities. I’m certain there are many organisations in Leeds City Region who could deliver the goods and services that would make a significant contribution to international development across the world. I encourage local businesses to attend this event and find out more.”

The LEP is supporting this event as part of the #LetsTalkRealBusiness campaign to promote real business opportunities to local SMEs through its Growth Service, which has helped 3,700 businesses in Bradford, Calderdale, Craven, Harrogate, Kirklees, Leeds, Selby, Wakefield and York to grow in the last three years.

DFID’s key areas of spend include economic development, research and development, governance & security, education services and construction services relating to water, sanitation and hygiene. It is responsible for distributing UK aid to some of the poorest communities across the world and work with hundreds of organisations, both within the UK and internationally, to deliver these vital services to those who need them. Annually, they procure around £1.5bn of services, delivered mainly across Africa, the Middle East and Asia.

DFID has recently undertaken a review of its commissioning processes and would like to identify ways to improve relationships with prospective suppliers and broaden and develop their supply base to include more SME suppliers and the event on 6^th December is part of a programme to reach out and engage with new suppliers across the UK. Of particular interest are organisations who are willing to work with DFID in the overseas locations where programmes are delivered.

Since 2015 the UK’s international development budget has achieved amazing results including immunising over 14.8 million children, supporting 7.1 million children to receive an education, reaching 26.3m children and women with food and averted a famine in Somalia by providing emergency food assistance.

To find out more about the work that DFID does and the pipeline of business over the next 18 to 24 months please book your free place here.