Members who deal with procurement or submit responses to heritage tenders will be interested to learn that Northern Ireland has now adopted a new approach through the launch of a new eTendersNI system.
The Northern Ireland Department of Finance and Personnel writes:
The new eTendersNI system will make it easier for companies to submit online tenders for government contracts. The portal has been developed by the Department of Finance and Personnel’s Central Procurement Directorate, (CPD), which carries out procurements on behalf of central government departments, agencies and arms-length bodies. CPD is one of the first procurement organisations to use the new system.
The Minister said: ‘eTendersNI is another important step along government’s path to continuous improvement. It will be the principal source of information for public sector tender opportunities in Northern Ireland, with more organisations using it to advertise their tenders than the previous portal, eSourcing NI. Its functionality will improve efficiency for suppliers, by making it easier and faster to bid for government contracts. Each year Northern Ireland public sector contracts account for more than £2.5billion of expenditure. Of those contracts awarded in year 75% go to local businesses, the majority of which are SMEs. I want to see that success continue and CPD has been working closely with the private sector and the CEF, to improve procurement processes and the visibility of construction procurement projects in the pipeline to help businesses compete for more government contracts.’
Arlene Foster added: ‘Through the Executive’s commitment to public sector reform my department is looking for better ways for suppliers to engage, simpler ways of doing business and encouraging the market to offer its best solutions to the public sector.’
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