Keeping It Local

Sunderland's economy is worth about £5.7bn. Growing this value is one of the City Council's priorities. 

A larger economy benefits us all - more and better paid jobs will mean a better quality of life. Plus, people spending more of this money locally will help our economy grow even further. 

How the council spends its budget can help with this - last year we spent £298m with 5,000 different suppliers. £90m of that was spent with Sunderland based organisations and we're doing more to make sure we give local companies the best opportunities. The largest areas of spend are construction, engineering and adult and children's social care. 

We can't buy everything locally for a number of reasons (including Public Procurement Law) and not all of our needs can be met by local companies. But our market engagement team works with suppliers to maximise the opportunities for local companies. This activity is completed via: 

• Area Committee budgets: local projects are delivered by local businesses and VCS organisations 
• Our quotations process is by invitation, and we strive to encourage local suppliers to bid
• Our tenders (over the EU threshold) are all advertised, and we hold supplier briefings locally

You can find out more about the Council's procurement processes here.