Doing business with Medway Council

At Medway Council we spend about £230million each year buying goods, services and works for the community. This process of buying from suppliers is called procurement.

Our priority is to secure the best value for money throughout the organisation.

Current opportunities

If you're a supplier interested in doing business with us you must register, for free, with the Kent Business Portal to search for contracting opportunities and get alerts about your interests.

We advertise all contract opportunities with a value over £5,000. You can view these on our Contract Register (this is an online document which is subject to change over time).

Reasons to do business with us

Find out how to do business with Medway for further guidance on our procurement process including:

  • what we consider when selecting a contract
  • how we assess your suitability to do business with us
  • how we manage and monitor a contract

We also hold an annual Meet the Buyer event so businesses can find out more about working with the council and about the opportunities available to them.

What we buy

We buy a wide variety of goods and services for use by all departments.

We buy good through a Category Management Team to help us spend public money better. This helps us group related goods and services into categories and map them against the supplier market to maximise quality, benefit and value across the council.

The team supports council officers in following the rules when doing business with external organisations, getting value for money and buying what they have identified. Every officer of the council must follow the Contract Procedure Rules when they take part in procurement.

Buying for external organisations

We have carried out a number of external procurements for other organisations, saving them time and money. For example, we provided Mid Kent College with an outdoor gym for 15% less than the price they were initially quoted. To find out if we can help you email categorymanagement@medway.gov.uk.

Further information

Business Link has produced a Selling to Government guide with advice on the procurement process, procurement regulations and helps suppliers understand the tendering process for public sector contracts.