The guest speaker at our 2022 AGM was Martin Traynor OBE. Martin is the Small Business Crown Representative at the Cabinet Office and he shared some very useful tips on successfully pitching for central government and wider public sector contracts. His slides are available to download and in addition, he also provided a list of handy links for ATLAS members to explore:

Contracts Finder

Contracts Finder lets you search for information about contracts worth over £10,000 with the government and its agencies. You can use Contracts Finder to:

  • Search for contract opportunities in different sectors
  • Find out what’s coming up in the future
  • Look up details of previous tenders and contracts

Find government grants

Find a Grant is a service that allows you to search government grants. This is a pilot service [as of May 2022] and it is being co-created with our users. You can use this service to:

  • Access government grant funding
  • Search and filter to find a grant that matches your needs
  • Find out if you are eligible to apply for a grant
  • Find out how to apply for a grant

Prompt Payment Policy

Read the Prompt Payment Policy for information on measures introduced by the government to tackle late and unfair payment practices in both public and private sectors.

Public Procurement Review Service: scope and remit

The scope and remit of the Public Procurement Review Service (PPRS), which provides a route for suppliers to raise concerns about public procurement practice.

Avoid and report anti-competitive activity

All businesses, whatever their size, must understand how they’re affected by competition law. You must follow the rules on all types of anti-competitive activity including:

  • Price fixing, bid rigging and other ways of agreeing not to compete (sometimes called ‘cartels’)
  • Abuse of a dominant market position

You should manage the risk of breaking the law, for example by having clear policies, guidelines and training for your staff.

You can report anti-competitive activity if you think another business is breaking the law, or if you might have been involved yourself.

Import, export and customs for businesses

Local Enterprise Partnerships and your local growth hub

There are 38 Local Enterprise Partnerships (LEP) across England. They are business led partnerships between local authorities and local private sector businesses.  They play a central role in determining local economic priorities and undertaking activities to drive economic growth and job creation, improve infrastructure and raise workforce skills within the local area. LEP boards are led by a business Chair and board members are local leaders of industry (including SMEs), educational institutions and the public sector.