Information for SMEs Home Industry and commercial Supply chain Information for SMEs Industry and commercial Information for operators Network Rail Property Rail freight Research, development and innovation Supply chain Becoming a supplier Existing suppliers Information for SMEs Pitch Platform Procurement Working with us Third party investors Consulting Efficient and dependable partner System Requirements and Integration GB Generic Requirements Suite Our working relationship with SMEs is vital in delivering a safe, reliable and innovative railway for our customers. Since 2015/16 we have increased the proportion of our total expenditure spent with SMEs from 15.5% to 35.6%. This is ahead of plan and on-track to meet the target but with every year this becomes increasingly more difficult to achieve. That is why we've published our SME action plan on Tuesday 5 November 2019 to focus on what we must do to make ourselves ‘easier to do business with’. More information can be found in our SME Action Plan section below. SME Action Plan We have launched our SME Action Plan to improve our working relationship with SMEs. Our engagement with SME suppliers through focus groups and feedback from industry associations has made it clear that we are not always easy to work with. The SME Action Plan responds to these insights and puts in place new working practices that will make a positive difference for SMEs. Areas of improvement The SME Action Plan sets out the issues raised by SMEs and the changes we will make by agreed timescales to ensure we make it as easy as possible to do business with us. It focusses on six areas of improvement: Engagement Pre-procurement Procurement Contract management Supplier management Innovation. Further details can of each action can be found in the SME Action Plan (818 KB, PDF). Supplementary SME Action Plan Our Supplementary SME Action Plan invites our tier 1 suppliers to put in place a range of actions which we believe will help our SME community to thrive. Delivering these initiatives together will help us increase the overall proportion of expenditure we spend with our SMEs and help deliver the government’s Industrial Strategy and Rail Sector Deal. Further details of each action can be found in the Supplementary SME Action Plan (752 KB PDF). The Pitch Platform The Pitch Platform is a new initiative to encourage suppliers to pitch their innovative products and services to key stakeholders across the organisation. In a Dragon’s Den style approach, successful entrants can benefit from specialist support and/or funding to develop their ideas for the railway and fast-track the procurement process. Find out more about Pitch Platform. Events RIA Annual Conference (4-5 November) Get in touch Please do not hesitate to contact our SME Champions if you have any questions: Ken Blackley Martin McLaren (Scotland's Railway) Ingrid Norman (Eastern) Victoria Hill-Stanford (North West & Central) Benjamin King (Wales & Western) Dan Smith (Southern) Related pages Becoming a supplier Interested in working with us? We're committed to making it easier for organisations to work with us and provide their services and products to help make Britain’s railway even better. Depending on what your organisation... Existing suppliers We are committed to making it easier for suppliers to work with us. Here you will find a range of information dedicated to our supply chain. From easy access to our range of digital portals... Pitch Platform Pitch Platform is a ‘Dragon Den’s’ style initiative supporting successful applicants with additional funding, engineering expertise or other specialist services in order to develop their solutions for use on the railway. The scheme is open... Procurement Find out about the procurement process and up coming procurement opportunities through our centralised Route Services team and our Network Rail regions. Procurement at Network Rail takes place on two levels. Route Services is a... Supply chain Our extensive supply chain network plays its part in helping us run a safe and efficient railway. Recommended stories Working with us Safety and service is central to everything we do. We expect all our suppliers to support us in working sustainably to deliver world-class safety and a service that puts passengers and freight users first. Every... Together we can end domestic abuse Follow us on: Home Who we are Staying safe and secure Media Contact us Copyright © 2021 Network Rail Privacy notice Cookies Terms & conditions Accessibility Modern Slavery Statement Site Map Feed