About esd-suppliers

The esd-suppliers scheme has now been launched as a new member of the esd family. The scheme is designed to involve suppliers in the standards work performed by esd-toolkit and enable suppliers to share with local authorities documents and information on projects on which they have worked in the public sector.

The scheme is merging with the Local Authority Market Intelligence Portal (LAMIP), whose registered users can migrate to esd-suppliers. esd-suppliers is working closely with the Local Government Integration Practice (LGIP) to build one common set of standards, extending esd-toolkit’s work to date with controlled lists and schemas. Subscribing consultants will be given training in how esd-toolkit works and how the standards are used.

The esd-suppliers Web site keeps a register of supplier involvement with local authorities, whose officers are asked to validate entries. Nationally applicable core esd-toolkit data is shared with supplier members. Local data remains private to the local authority community, although authorities are given the opportunity to share resources (eg their documents and projects data) with supplier members.

This initiative will bring private sector suppliers together with local authorities and other public sector agencies. esd-suppliers provides a new website and support facilities for suppliers to participate in the esd community that has established public sector data standards and an information sharing framework.

The esd-suppliers scheme is a self-funding initiative endorsed by the esd-toolkit Steering group of local authority representatives and run under an Operational Framework approved by the Group. It is designed to bring a small amount of revenue to help support and extend data standards shared with suppliers.

The scheme is open to companies and independent consultants alike, both types of member will undergo training in the use of esd-toolkit and esd-standards, as well as the ethos behind the esd-community.

You will notice new features on the esd-toolkit site. In particular the suppliers register will show supplier information linked to work they have performed in relation to projects held in the projects database and services in LGSL. You can feel confident in the information provided as anything that feeds into the esd-toolkit has to be validated by a local authority officer before it is displayed.

Suppliers are being actively encouraged to contribute to the esd-community, and facilities have been set up for them to do so. The ‘supplier offers’ page has been enhanced so that supplier members can make special benefits available to esd-toolkit subscribing authorities.

You can discuss your needs directly with suppliers on the ‘suppliers open forum’ which you can add to your forum list from the ‘My Profile’ page.

You can help make the scheme a success by:

• Sharing relevant documents and projects with suppliers
• Joining the esd-suppliers forum and discussing your needs with suppliers
• Ask suppliers who ‘cold-call’ to join the esd-suppliers scheme where they can contact local authorities in a protected environment
• Add esd-suppliers news to your ‘My Toolkit’ front page
• Searching for a supplier in esd-toolkit when going to tender