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About the buyer

Leicestershire County Council is a local authority that also trades nationally as ESPO, short for the Eastern Shires Purchasing Organisation, a professional buying organisation it owns jointly with five more councils. ESPO serves public sector bodies and education establishments across the country. More than 100 free-to-access framework agreements sit alongside a product catalogue of 25,000 items. A framework is an agreement between the buying organisation, ESPO and an external supplier. In-house procurement experts at ESPO support customers through the frameworks and the catalogue. Councils, schools and academies buy directly through these routes rather than running separate tenders.

UK local government drives £140bn in annual procurement, led by social protection (£66.6bn) and education (£57.1bn).

Over the past 5 years, most of ESPO's contract awards have been in furniture and furnishings, transport equipment and construction work.