Encourage Business Engagement
Carlow County Council encourages business engagement and, in particular, strives to assist with developing access for Small & Medium Enterprises (SMEs) and Sole Traders to their public procurement competitions.
Small & Medium Enterprises (SMEs) are an important part of the national economy and access to public procurement competitions can be an important source of business to SMEs. The national circular 05/2023 outlines various initiatives to assist with great participation of SMEs in public procurement.
Proposed actions include encourage buyers to complete market analysis and examine capabilities of SMEs; using preliminary market consultations (PMC) and expressions of interest (EoI), when possible; consideration be given to of subdivision of contracts into Lots, without compromising efficiency and value for money; encouraging consortium bids for competitions; consideration be given to greater use of open tendering procedure; requesting turnover and insurance requirements which are proportionate and reasonable, in the context of competitions; and supporting capacity building and encourage innovation in competitions.
To encourage business engagement by Small & Medium Enterprises (SMEs) and Sole Traders the follow guide has been made available:
Exploring Business Opportunities
Potential suppliers are encouraged to keep up to date with public procurement opportunities, including those published by Carlow County Council, by registering on the following websites:
eTenders is the Irish Government’s electronic tendering platform, administered by the Office of Government Procurement. The platform is a central facility for all public sector contracting authorities, including Carlow County Council, to advertise procurement opportunities and to announce outcomes to tenderers.
Further details on registration for potential suppliers may be found here:
In addition to eTenders, public sector procurers use the SupplyGov platform.
This is a procurement system public service bodies use to run mini competitions under established frameworks and dynamic purchasing systems for two key categories, Minor Works & Civils and Plant Hire.
Framework arrangements and dynamic purchasing systems such as plant hire, minor building works, road making materials, road signs and ancillaries, civil engineering materials, energy efficiency retrofitting and minor building works – tradespersons are accessible on this platform.
Further details on registration for potential suppliers may be found here: