Suppliers & Partners

How to do business with Essex County Fire & Rescue Service

Supplier Portal

There is a great deal of competition for Essex County Fire & Rescue Service contracts. To help provide suppliers with up to date information, we have introduced a Procurement Portal with other local authorities who are also members of The Procurement Agency for Essex (PAE). This will compliment our existing supplier registration.

Essex County Fire & Rescue Service have adopted the BiP Select Service to provide online registration of suppliers interested in selling to Essex County Fire & Rescue Service and other local authorities’ within Essex. This allows suppliers the opportunity to identify future opportunities, respond to current opportunities and to view which suppliers have already been engaged along with the goods and/or services purchased.

Supplier Registration

To register please go to www.paessex.gov.uk so that you will be able to receive contract opportunities free of charge that match your business requirements.

Having registered on the PAE site you will then be able to access the BiP Select Service. Please be advised that it is not mandatory to use the BIP Select Service but it will increase the visibility of your products and services across Essex and indeed nationally to over 8000 public sector buyers throughout the UK which offers an invaluable opportunity to gain recognition in the public sector market.

The BiP Select Service offers 2 levels of assessment:-

1. Select Certify - You can choose to self-certify by completing an online questionnaire free of charge.
2. Select Accredit - If your company tenders regularly for public sector contracts, you will save time, effort and costs by applying for Select Accredit status as your accreditation need only be renewed on an annual basis. Information on the fees for this service can be found by visiting www.bipselect.com/accredit

Note for Constructionline Suppliers: - If you are already registered with Constructionline, you do not need to apply for Select Accredit as you will be automatically accredited and will be listed on the BIP Select service. However you can still register on www.paessex.gov.uk to receive the contract opportunity information.

Quotations and Tenders

Essex County Fire & Rescue Service uses a process of competitive quotation and formal tendering process dependent on the value of the project.

Quotations and Tenders are invited from companies:

• who have responded to notices or advertisements
• that ECFRS are aware could have the ability to supply
• that have been placed on pre-qualified list

Advertising

Contract values up to £156,442 will be advertised via Notices in our Buyer Profile. You can receive automatic notification of notices by registering free using our Procurement Portal.

For Service and Supply Contracts over £156,442 and Works Contracts of over £3,927,260 (1 Jan 2010 values) advertising will be in the Official Journal of the European Union (OJEU). Access is available www.ojec.co.uk or our Buyer Profile.

A list of current and forthcoming contract opportunities is available via our Buyer Profile. Please note that this is not a complete list of opportunities available.

During the pre-qualification and tender process it is important that bidders understand and respond to all questions described in the Essex County Fire & Rescue Service documentation. Where any uncertainty arises bidders should contact the appropriate issuing department at Essex County Fire & Rescue Service.