Contracts Finder was commissioned by the Cabinet Office following the Glover Review which proposed ways of improving participation in public procurement for SME’s including improved paths of communication for the small businesses, an easier method for gaining public tenders and providing greater access for Government contracts.  One for the recommendations that came from the review was that by 2010, contract opportunities valued at above £20,000 across the whole of the public sector should be advertised electronically, with standard indicative contract value ranges, and should be accessible through a single, free, easy-to-search online portal.

In response to these recommendations, Sequence was commissioned to design and build the Contracts Finder portal to fulfil Central Government’s need to make public sector procurement opportunities as open and transparent as possible.

The majority of core aims and objectives for the project were dictated by the Glover Review which had specifically highlighted the importance of simplicity within the new system, stating that any qualification criteria not specific to a sector should be standardised and incorporated in all pre-qualification questionnaires, so that businesses didn’t need to repeatedly submit the same core information in different formats.

Contracts Finder, which replaces Supply2gov, was built using Sitecore CMS and allows businesses to provide details of all previous relevant experience when bidding for contracts, not just public sector experience, and this is taken into account when selecting successful tenderers.  The system adheres to the incredibly strict security measures dictated for any online Government project and shares a single sign-on with the Government Gateway portal.

Finally, the new portal allows prime contractors to make their subcontracting opportunities accessible within the same system. Unlike the previous Supply2Gov website which was previously used for public sector procurement, Contracts Finder needed to focus on providing a great user experience to suppliers, putting them at the centre of the process to make using the site simpler and more intuitive.

The first phase of the project was launched by the Prime Minister at the Treasury buildings in London on Friday 11 February 2011.