Why Supply to the Public Sector?
Helen Linklater, Commercial Director for Enablement and Performance at the Metropolitan Police, on behalf of LAIN.
Through LAIN (the London Anchor Institutions’ Network) some of London’s biggest organisations are working together, supported by the Mayor of London, to help create a fairer, greener and more prosperous city.
LAIN’s procurement working group consists of large public and private sector organisations committed to supporting economic growth by increasing their spend with smaller businesses.
In this blog, Helen Linklater, Commercial Director for Enablement and performance at the Metropolitan Police and co-chair of the group, explains why businesses like yours should consider bidding for public sector contracts — particularly now.
Overview
Public sector bodies are some of the biggest buyers in the UK, spending £300-£400 billion every year on goods and services.
We offer a huge range of contracting opportunities – covering everything needed to maintain our buildings, keep our fleets on the road or the track, look after our animals, feed and clothe our employees, keep our communities safe and healthy, support our IT services, and provide our training, marketing and professional services.
These opportunities are increasingly accessible to businesses like yours.
Whilst public sector procurement has a reputation for being burdensome and bureaucratic, the landscape is changing rapidly - and the changes are specifically designed to open doors for smaller businesses.
What’s changing?
From the National Procurement Policy Statement to the Mayor’s London Growth Plan, commitments are being made at all levels of government to increase the proportion of public sector spend that flows to smaller businesses.
The Procurement Act 2023, which came into force in February 2025, has introduced a number of significant changes:
Targets for spend with smaller businesses. Public sector bodies are now required to set targets for spend with small and medium-sized enterprises and report against them. As part of LAIN, we have set our own voluntary targets since 2021, but this practice is now mandatory across public contracting authorities.
Greater transparency. Under the new procurement rules, public sector buyers must now provide clearer information on who has bid for a contract, who was successful and the reasons behind the award decision. And if you bid and aren’t successful, you will receive detailed feedback to help you prepare for your next bid. This directly tackles concerns about favouritism or advantages held by incumbent suppliers and makes competition fairer.
Change in evaluation criteria. Procurement has moved away from the traditional ‘Most Economically Advantageous Tender’ to the broader ‘Most Advantageous Tender’. This means buyers are placing greater weight on the social value, sustainability and community benefit that bidders can offer. These are areas where smaller businesses naturally excel, tending to be more innovative and more embedded in their local communities.
4. Simpler procurement processes: Procurement processes are being redesigned to remove barriers and make participation far easier. This includes:
A single digital platform (https://www.gov.uk/find-tender) where you can find all contract opportunities.
Simpler, shorter documentation with fewer upfront requirements.
Smaller, more manageable lots, so smaller businesses aren’t excluded by the size of contracts.
And more time to bid, recognising that smaller businesses often don’t have dedicated bid teams.
What are the benefits of supplying to the public sector?
If you’re considering diversification or growth, public procurement represents a high‑value, reliable and fast‑expanding opportunity.
Not only does the huge range of contracting opportunities represent a significant marketplace, it remains relatively stable even during times of economic downturn.
There is also increasing reliability of payment terms, which is essential for small businesses to help maintain steady cash-flow. The new regime mandates 30‑day payment terms for small and medium-sized enterprises across all public sector contracts. This applies not only to direct suppliers but throughout the supply chain — so prime suppliers must pay subcontractors within 30 days as well. You will also find that many public sector bodies aim to pay even faster, with many members of LAIN having set 10-day targets.
What does all this mean for small businesses?
We’re already seeing significant growth in small business engagement with public procurement.
In 2021/22, small and medium-sized firms secured £21 billion in public sector contracts across the country. By 2022/23, this had almost doubled to £39.7 billion.
LAIN members alone have spent £3.4bn with SMEs in the last five years. The reforms outlined above are designed to accelerate that even further.
In conclusion…
Smaller businesses are vital to public sector service delivery and - now more than ever - are well placed to provide the local social and economic value that buyers are seeking.
We want suppliers who can support local job creation, reduced carbon footprints through shorter supply chains, and greater responsiveness and adaptability. Smaller businesses are well positioned to deliver on all of these.
So, if you haven’t considered bidding for a public sector contract before, perhaps now is the time.
For more information, check out our Buyers Brochure, Guide to Social Value and resource on How to Bid for Public Sector Contracts.https://www.anchors.london/