Commissioning, procurement and how accessible public sector contract opportunities are to voluntary sector organisations will always be a considerable issue. It’s one that isn’t short of people’s time, thoughts and efforts – either in the past, present or future.
Such efforts tend to fall into one of 3 categories:
- Resources that support voluntary sector organisations to be better at responding to procurement / tendering opportunities (toolkits, masterclasses, training courses etc.)
- Resources that support commissioners to make procurement and tendering more accessible for voluntary sector organisations (example policies, legislative or regulatory incentives etc.)
- Examples of where efforts have worked in practice (case studies, events etc.)
It wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say there are hundreds of publications dedicated to this topic. This post very briefly notes some of the most useful resources on commissioning and procurement that already exist or are on their way in each of the above, particularly for disabled people’s user-led organisations.
Resources that support voluntary sector organisations / DPULOs
- NCVO – Commissioning and procurement guide
- Institute of Public Finance / NCVO – Guide to procurement and contracting (pdf)
- NAVCA – Local commissioning and procurement unit
- NAVCA – Commissioning and procurement resources
- NAVCA – Commissioning and procurement training
- ACEVO – Procurement and commissioning publications and factsheets
- NCVO – Before signing on the dotted line… all you need to know about procuring public sector contracts
- Disability LIB – Funding, tendering and commissioning
- Cabinet Office – Voluntary sector masterclasses (announced)
Resources that support commissioners
- SCIE’s Commissioning toolkit – A commissioner’s guide to developing and sustaining user-led organisations
- SCIE – brief guide to commissioning to develop and sustain user-led organisations
- NCVO – Third sector commissioning guide: a checklist to intelligent commissioning and bidding (pdf)
- OPM / Commissioning Support Programme – Learning from the Commissioning Support Programme (pdf)
- Commissioning Support Programme – In-depth commissioning publications
- Mutuals Advice Service – Commissioner support
- Enabling DPULO contributions through commissioning
Practical case studies
- NCVO – Best practice case studies
- NAVCA – Commissioning and procurement case studies
- ACEVO – Procurement and commissioning case studies
- National Skills Academy for Social Care – User-Led Organisations and Commissioning: 18 good practice learning resources (pdf)
- See also Compact Voice
By definition, this post hasn’t tried to capture all resources on commissioning and procurement. However, if there are particularly good resources that aren’t included in the above please do let me know in the comments below or via Twitter (@rich_w).
arbitrary constant 
Will have a look and let you know.