The
Community Strategy of the City of London sets the following
objective “to maximise local employment opportunities for local
people (who live in the City / City fringe) and opportunities for
local businesses to access contracts for goods and
services”.
The City of London is also aware that whilst the City houses
some of the richest concentrations of businesses in the world, its
neighbours include some of the country’s poorest communities. It
believes this contrast is unacceptable and works in partnership to
help build the economic, environmental and social fabric of City
fringe communities.
The City of London has for some time been aware of the enormous
potential that local procurement could make to stimulate the
economies of neighbouring boroughs and the associated job creation
opportunities. The bulk of all future jobs growth is expected to be
in the small and medium-sized enterprise (SME) sector rather than
through larger firms. The development of a vibrant SME economy must
be the basis of any sustainable form of regeneration in the City
fringes and neighbouring boroughs. For this reason in June 2003,
the Policy and Resources Committee approved the City of London’s
Local Procurement Project which aims to “encourage and
facilitate the adoption of local procurement by the Corporation and
City firms”.
The recognition of the important role that procurement can play
in economic regeneration led to the formation of a unique
partnership project funded by the
Economic Development Office, but operationally based with the
Central Procurement Unit.