About
This platform has been developed to bring local business buyers and suppliers together to increase the opportunity for spend to be kept locally for the benefit of Plymouth and its residents.
It is an inclusive, free of charge business to business platform which aims to be:
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A symbol of the City pulling together through the COVID-19 pandemic
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A sourcing tool for buyers to identify suppliers to invite to procurement activity
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An advertisement tool for suppliers to publicise their skills and expertise to buyers
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An opportunity for buyers to explain how they do business such as links to procurement platforms and advertised opportunities
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A source of local Procurement news
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An opportunity for suppliers to make connections, form support networks and explore partnerships opportunities
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A tool to identify gaps in the local market for future potential development activities
Background
Supporting local business and generating social, economic and environmental benefits for Plymouth through spending has long been a goal for Plymouth City Council and is a sentiment shared among organisations across the City.
This focus on buying local and benefiting local has only become more important as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, which has not only been a health emergency but an unprecedented economic shock.
In direct response to the pandemic Plymouth City Council led a citywide emergency economic recovery programme that aimed to unite the City behind a common purpose of ensuring a strong recovery and building for a better future.
A central part of this programme was an initiative called ‘Spend 4 Plymouth’, which explores how Procurement and Commissioning can play its part in the economic recovery and regeneration of the City. The focus of this initiative has been two-fold:
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Increasing the amount the City spends directly with its local suppliers
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Maximising the wider benefits of the City’s spending for the local economy, society and environment (Social Value)
The Spend 4 Plymouth team identified that a clear barrier to keeping spend in the City is a lack of visibility, both in terms of buyers being able to understand what the local supply market has to offer and suppliers being able to understand how to do business with local buyers. It was quickly identified that there was no single, simple location where this information was held and the concept of Plymouth Supplier Directory was born.
Today, Plymouth is moving away from an emergency response to the pandemic but significant effort is required to ensure the City continues on its road to recovery and as it begins to look to the future.
Spend 4 Plymouth has been recognised as an initiative that still has and will have an important role to play in the months and years to come and when the COVID-19 pandemic is a distant memory, will remain a key driver in ensuring Plymouth is a resilient, growing and sustainable city.