The chest... Anyone know of this?

I had an interesting chat with a lady this morning from the Rochdale regeneration service. Her name is Carol Hopkins and she is the business manager.

She mentioned a thing called "the chest" which is an electronic portal used by local authorities acroos the North West to promote current tender opportunities. the web address is:

http://www.thechest.nwce.gov.uk

Has anybody used it or know about it? Looks like a good place for business opportunities which I'm sure we'd all like :o)

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Permalink Reply by Ash on August 16, 2011 at 9:54

Hi, I attended an oldham council meeting last year, and they informed us about the chest, how to log in and search for contracts etc.

To be honest it is quite confusing, especially to those who are not PC savvy.

And once you do get in, the red tape puts you off applying for any contracts.

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Permalink Reply by Vickie Varley on August 17, 2011 at 13:36

Hi,

I had some training on this last week from someone in Procurement in Rochdale. If any OBN members want a quick and basic introduction to getting registered and finding opportunities then I am more than happy to go through it with them. I'm based at Oldham Library but could meet you at one of our branches if that's easier.

Vickie

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Permalink Reply by Michael Whitehead on August 20, 2011 at 13:37

Thanks for the input Vickie,

I'm sure there will be some interest from some of the OBN members. I think this could definately be of some advantage and your help would be more than appreciated :0

Cheers

Michael

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Permalink Reply by Julie Crowley on August 23, 2011 at 20:36

Yes I've heard of it. There are two levels of application to provide services to local authorities and the chest is for smaller providers to propose on the opportunities for commissioned services and the other has another name. I cant remember it.

I heard about it through Rob at the Enterprise Centre (headed by Alison Hornby who is on here). There is a networking meeting Wed 7th Sept at Oldham Library 7.30 am - the OPEN network, that they run and you might wish to go to. I think Rob has now left but unsure. He used to present to us companies how to apply etc. I didn't think it would work for me and I always feel that they are a bit of a closed network of providers too but that is just my opinion. Good luck.

https://www.thechest.nwce.gov.uk/cms/cms.nsf/vHomePage/fSection?Ope...

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Permalink Reply by Vickie Varley on August 24, 2011 at 12:19

I wouldn't have called it a closed network, by its nature anyone can be in it. I think smaller companies may particularly benefit from having an accurate and up to date registration so that they can be considered for 'quick quotes' where for opportunities under a certain figure any four appropriate companies are approached at random for a quote. For the small time commitment of registering you will be approached when an appropriate job comes up, sounds like a plan to me :)