Trading in parks-Soft market testing for flagship sites

About the buyer

Cheshire West and Chester Council is a unitary local authority covering north-west Cheshire, and buys through its own procurement team. Contract opportunities are advertised on The Chest, the North West's shared procurement portal for local authorities. Larger opportunities are also published nationally on Find a Tender and Contracts Finder. Registering on The Chest gives suppliers access to opportunities across every North West local authority, not just this council. The council runs a strict no purchase order, no pay policy, so suppliers need an order number before invoicing. Procurement enquiries go through a dedicated central procurement mailbox.

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 Cheshire West and Chester Council's contract awards have been in business services, construction work and architectural and engineering services.