London to get one stop procurement shop

The council said the portal would be a web based facility enabling organisations to share procurement information, contacts and best practice. It will also make it easier for suppliers to find out about available opportunities, according to the council. The project is being funded by Capital Ambition, the improvement and efficiency partnership for London, following a feasibility study that found that it would reduce the time spend on tendering and provide savings of £80m. Organisations expected to use the portal include Transport for London, the London Development Agency, the London Fire and Emergency Planning Authority, the Metropolitan Police, London borough councils and NHS bodies in the capital. The tender notice in the Official Journal of the European Union estimates the value of the 3-4 year deal at £50,000-£150,000 for the portal. The framework agreement for the e-tendering solution it estimates to be worth between £40,000 and £1.5m. It described the portal as a "one-stop shop for procurement activity" which will provide: - a restricted buyer access facility for procurement systems, information repositories, databases, discussion groups, opportunity creation and the issue of online prequalification questionnaires; - a public facing facility with tender and contract search and access capabilities; - a restricted supplier access facility to express an interest in opportunities, complete online qualification questionnaires, market services and products and advertise for sub-contractors; - an optional e-tendering solution; - links to an authority's preferred e-solution package; - links to other regional supplier noticeboards and databases, such as the OJEU, Compete For and Supply2Gov; - links to other systems such as eCatalogues, Sharepoint, Oracle, and SAP. The contract is due to be awarded in April and the portal is scheduled for launch in June.