We work with social enterprises and other third sector organisations to support their growth and boost their capacity to generate income by delivering contracts. We help them identify possible growth areas, increase their sustainablity, and provide support to help them take advantage of new opportunities.
We also work with commissioners and procurement professionals to increase awareness of the third sector and what social enterprises can offer.
CoSE has been running a focus group since September 2008. The group works with a number of social enterprises and commissioning/procurement representatives from public bodies. Through the focus group CoSE takes the role of an independent intermediary, facilitating constructive discussions between both parties.
The Merseyside Area Procurement Group is made up of all the heads of procurement from the Local Authorities plus Merseytravel and Merseyside Fire and Rescue. The work that we have carried out with the Merseyside Area Procurement group has demonstrated the benefits that can be achieved by CoSE acting as an independent intermediary and understanding both sides of procurement.
Based on discussions with commissioners and procurement officers the focus group have produced a series of briefing papers, not only for third sector organisations but also for commissioners and procurement officers.
Briefing papers and other downloads can be found here...
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