Throughout the month of June, the LGBT+ community celebrates Pride Month to commemorate the Stonewall riots, which occurred at the end of June 1969.

This week we have dedicated our “Contract opportunity of the week” in celebration of #Pride2019 and the 50th anniversary of the Stonewall Riots.

Learn more about LGBT+ tenders and the latest contract opportunity below.

 

LGBT Action Plan

In July 2018, the Government Equalities Office released an LGBT Action Plan with the goal of “improving the lives of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people.” This plan states that the government has set out over 75 commitments that will help them to achieve this. Key actions from this plan will include:

  • Extending the anti-homophobic, biphobic and transphobic bullying programme in schools
  • Bringing forward proposals to end the practice of conversion therapy in the UK
  • Taking further action on LGBT hate crime – improving the recording and reporting of, and police response to, hate crime.
  • Appointing a national LGBT health adviser to provide leadership on reducing the health inequalities that LGBT people face

Funding has also been allocated to promote LGBT+ equality in the UK and worldwide. As part of the Department for International Development’s new funding mechanism, UK Aid Connect, up to £12 million will be spent over four years (from 2018 to 2022) for a consortium of organisations to work together to promote LGBT+ inclusion.

This opens many opportunities for businesses that want to make a difference and support the LGBT+ community.

 

Businesses supporting Pride Month

For years many businesses have shown their social responsibility values and commitment to equality by supporting Pride Month.

This year the Pride Month has over 50 official partners, ranging from makeup brands like Sephora and MAC Cosmetics to sports industry giants like Reebok and Adidas.

H&M is a partner of #Pride2019. Sara Spännar, Global Marketing and Communications Director at H&M, says that the brand:

“strives to be a mirror of global society, one that fully embraces a central message of ‘Love for All’, standing up for people’s right to love whoever they want, wherever they are.”

 

Contract opportunity of the week

Your business too can make a difference by searching for LGBTQ+ tenders…

The Awarding Authority of our ‘contract of the week’ is launching a social action research challenge for LGBT+ young people aged 10-20 years.

Together this team of creative and committed young people will plan and carry out a research project that will help include more LGBT+ young people in social action in a range of organisations.

This type of contract may be suitable for private sector businesses that do work in the UK under the following categories:

  • Social work and related services
  • Social research services
  • Other community, social and personal services
  • Services furnished by social membership organisations
  • Social services
  • Welfare services for children and young people

Peview this tender and get started by registering for free with Supply2Gov.

If your business wants to work with the public sector then it must have a strong business continuity plan in place.

Businesses face a long list of risks (e.g. flooding and fires, cyber attacks, IT outages, resignations), and dealing with these risks while carrying out a public sector contract is something your business must be capable of.

If you have never developed a business continuity plan for your business before, we have listed some top tips below.

 

Do I need to have a business continuity plan?

For some public sector contracts, it is mandatory that your business has a business continuity plan in place.

Since 2005 all UK local authorities have been statutorily required to have business continuity plans for their services and to make sure any contracted service also has them.

This is also the case in many other areas of business and from the insurance industry. Any responsible business should have continuity plans internally and with its supply chain. This ensures that that service is maintained even when a disruption happens.

 

Planning

First things first. Make sure your continuity plan recognises any potential threats and gives details of how these threats could impact the day-to-day operations of your business.

The Business Continuity Institute (BCI) recommends that your plan:

“provides a way to mitigate these threats, putting in place a framework which allows key functions of the business to continue even if the worst happens.”

Business continuity management should be embedded into your organisation. BCI outlines the following steps on how your business can do this:

Analysis: As highlighted above, your business must identify relevant threats in preparation for business continuity planning.

Design: From this analysis a robust plan can then be built around these threats.

Implementation: Your business can implement the plan in an effort to protect itself from potential threats.

Validation: The plan must be continually validated to ensure its effectiveness. Policies and programmes should be put in place to ensure that your organisation is resilient.

 

Public sector contracts

The steps above are something any business working with the public sector should consider before bidding for contracts.

To learn more about working with the public sector, visit the Supply2Gov website.

 

Energy UK has predicted that the solar energy sector will receive nearly £11.9 billion of investment by 2020.

Although 2020 is fast approaching, suppliers within the sector should maintain optimism as the industry is to invest £250 million in an Offshore Wind Growth Partnership to develop the UK supply chain, with global exports “set to increase fivefold to £2.6 billion by 2030” according to the Government.

 

Energy revolution

Energy and Clean Growth Minister Claire Perry announced a new joint government-industry Offshore Wind Sector Deal in March 2019. As part of this deal, clean, green offshore wind is set to generate more than 30% of British electricity by 2030.

“This new Sector Deal will drive a surge in the clean, green offshore wind revolution that is powering homes and businesses across the UK, bringing investment into coastal communities and ensuring we maintain our position as global leaders in this growing sector.

“By 2030 a third of our electricity will come from offshore wind, generating thousands of high-quality jobs across the UK, a strong UK supply chain and a fivefold increase in exports. This is our modern Industrial Strategy in action.”

 

Global exports

The deal also hopes to boost global exports to areas like Europe, Japan, South Korea, Taiwan and the United States. The Government predicts that the market will be worth £2.6 billion a year by 2030.

Through this partnership with the Department for International Trade the UK Government hopes “to support smaller supply chain companies to export for the first time”.

 

New to public sector procurement?

Now is a prime time for your business to look for opportunities within the energy sector. With the public sector spending record sums in this area make sure your business stays up to date with Supply2Gov Tender Alerts.

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