LDA to use 'business dating agency' on contracts worth £170m a year

The London Development Agency (LDA) will use online 'business dating agency' CompeteFor to tender £170m worth of contracts each year, it has announced.

The system was originally designed to open up the London 2012 supply chain to small- and medium-sized businesses (SMEs).

But the LDA, which helped to develop the scheme, said it would roll out CompeteFor across its organisation from this week.

CompeteFor allows businesses to register as potential suppliers and they are then notified when contractors in their area are put out to tender.

So far 30,258 companies have signed up, of which 10,000 are from the Greater London area and 84% are SMEs.

LDA chief executive Peter Rogers said: "CompeteFor has been a resounding success – enabling small and medium sized businesses to gain access to a wide range of contracts by opening up the Olympic supply chain. 

"It was always our vision to roll out the scheme across the whole of the LDA to give smaller firms in London the chance to compete for more contracts and get more business. This service will continue to evolve and we may find CompeteFor will eventually become a key tendering tool for both the public and private sectors."