e-Procurement introduction

Welcome to the Waltham Forest guide on how you can sell your products and services to the Council.

Waltham Forest Council buys goods, works, and services from a wide range of suppliers and service providers. The Council awards contracts to those organisations that can meet our requirements and standards. Contracts can range from small, one-off purchases up to multi-million pound service contracts lasting several years. Details of currently-open tenders are set out on the Council tenders page.

The purpose of this guide is:

  • to provide the business community, including suppliers of goods, works or services, with an explanation of how and why the Council procures what it needs;
  • to enable the business community to gain greater access to the Council for the purpose of selling goods, works and services;
  • to encourage businesses to compete for Council contracts.

The Council has well-established procedures for offering work or buying products and does not usually respond to unsolicited enquiries or applications. These procedures can vary depending on the type of product the Council is buying, as well as its value.

Payment of supplier invoices

Waltham Forest Council is implementing new processes in accounts payable to improve our internal controls and our service to you as a supplier.

As of 1 November 2008, Waltham Forest Council's 'e-Invoicing' service provider will be able to accept invoices electronically or on paper. We would like to encourage you to choose one of the electronic options, as they have real advantages for you:

  • No printing costs - paper or ink
  • No postage costs - envelopes and stamps
  • Automatic confirmation of receipt of the email with PDF attachment, so that you know it has been received.

If you wish to send your invoices/credit notes via an electronic delivery method we can accept electronic files or emails with a PDF attachment.

If you do not already have software to enable you to convert your invoice document into a PDF file, there are a number of free software downloads obtainable via the Internet

Please see the following link for details of one option (this is not a recommendation).

www.primopdf.com

The system requirements for Primo PDF are as follows:

Microsoft Windows 98, 2000, NT, XP, Windows Server 2003, Windows Vista

A minimum of 30Mb of disc space.

For full details of the new process please see below.

» More on e-invoicing

Useful links for suppliers

Council tenders

  • Details of works that the council is tendering for, along with details of contracts recently let, are set out on the Council Tenders page

Official Journal of the European Union (OJEU)

Constructionline.co.uk

  • If you are interested in tendering for construction work, you should register with Construction Line, www.constructionline.co.uk This is used by many Governmental bodies to source construction contractors and consultants.

Supply2.gov.uk

  • Supply2.gov.uk is a dynamic new government-backed service designed specifically to give companies easy access to lower-value contract opportunities (typically worth under £100,000) offered by the public sector. You can find out more at www.supply2.gov.uk

London 2012

  • Find out how your business can get involved in London2012 on the Business Network website.
  • Games-related goods and services are advertised on CompeteFor, the chosen website of London 2012 for the publication of Games-related contract opportunities.  

Contact us

For more information please email procurement@walthamforest.gov.uk