Belfast City Council has lifted the lid on plans to support smaller businesses in tendering for contracts.

This tendering support programme will allow eligible small businesses and social enterprises to benefit from tailored workshops and hands-on support on live tenders from bid specialists.

The project will create an opportunity for these companies to upskill in tendering and procurement, build their confidence to pitch for, and win new contracts.

Chair of Belfast City Council's City Growth and Regeneration Committee, Councillor Deirdre Hargey explained: "Tendering for contracts can seem pretty daunting – especially the first time you go through the process. Our new tendering support programme provides excellent, practical guidance to help smaller businesses develop their bids and make them a real success.

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"Last year, Belfast City Council spent over £93 million with our suppliers. As we've outlined in our Belfast Agenda, we're keen to support local businesses and to ensure that as many of our quality services as possible are provided by Belfast suppliers, while continuing to deliver excellent value for money. I urge local firms to register for support through this new free programme and build their experience and expertise."

The support programme will raise awareness of contract opportunities by sharing sources of information on bid pipelines and live bid events; help companies make the right decisions about which bids to pursue; increase business readiness to tender, improve bid content and ultimately bid outcomes.

It is part funded by Invest Northern Ireland and the European Regional Development Fund under the Investment for Growth and Jobs Northern Ireland (2014-2020) Programme.

(CM/JG)