With approximately £700 million to spend on goods and services in preparation for the London Games in 2012 – 20% of which will go to on catering, cleaning and waste and many provided by small and medium sized enterprises – we just know there’s an opportunity out there with your name all over it! As usual, LOCOG opportunities will be advertised on the online portal www.CompeteFor.co.uk So if you haven’t yet registered your business on the site, what are you waiting for?

And if you’d rather not do all this kind of dirty work yourself – why not save yourself some time and energy and employ the services of Win That Bid? Well hunt down the most relevant opportunities for you and make sure you get those bids done and dusted.

All good here for private commuters – however, massive disruptions are expected in public transports during the Olympics. As the Olympic Delivery Authority (ODA) Chairman John Armitt recently admitted ‘Moving hundreds of thousands of spectators and tens of thousands of athletes, media, officials and Games workers in the summer of 2012 is a huge logistical challenge.’ 

How is that good news for creative businesses? The London 2012 Olympics is approaching advertising and media agencies with a brief to communicate transport changes around the Games. Professionals in the field of advertising, media buying, digital, CRM and PR are needed.

The winning agencies will be briefed to create campaigns such as door-drops in the most affected areas, posters at Tube stations, TV executions and online updates to keep the public, workers and spectators informed of any day-to-day changes. These will include information on such transport issues as travel to and from all of the sites, including the Olympic Village in Stratford and the rowing venue in Eton; any transport disruptions or road closures caused by the Games; any changes caused by building work in the run-up to the event; and any disruption once it has finished.

If this sounds like a gold opportunity to you and your creative business, you can either click the heels of your red shoes or give Win that Bid a call – we’ll make sure you make your way to the Olympics!

Hello food lovers and entrepreneurs! Here is some great news for those of you working in the UK food and catering industry: the London 2012 Organising Committee has recently pledged in its ‘Food Vision’ http://www.london2012.com/publications/food-vision.php to serve ‘the best of British food’ during the Olympic and Paralympic Games.

And what fantastic opportunities for British businesses: 80% of the food served at the Olympics will be sourced from local British businesses – the remaining 20% being supplied by London 2012 commercial partners, Coca-Cola, McDonalds, Cadburys etc.

The recently disclosed London 2012 Food Vision aims to set new standards for catering at UK events; Local, seasonal, healthier and sustainable standards will be favored. All dairy products, beef, lamb and poultry must be British. In addition, bananas, tea, coffee and sugar will be Fairtrade. And 100% of the 19 tonnes of eggs that will be served will have to be cage-free.

And to help you get a feel for the size of the operation – a whopping 14 million meals to be served, this roughly means businesses will need to supply some:

• 25,000 loaves of bread
• 232 tonnes of potatoes
• 82 tonnes of seafood
• 31 tonnes of poultry
• 100 tonnes of meat
• 75,000 litres of milk
• 21 tonnes of cheese (yum) and
• 330 tonnes of fruit and vegetables

If you would like to be one of the lucky businesses that will cater at the Olympics, the search to find catering suppliers is now underway! For your chance of obtaining a piece of the 2012 pie (sorry couldn’t help it!) get your business onto www.competefor.co.uk And if you’re more pie filling than form filling let us foodies at Win That Bid give you a helping hand. Growing businesses is really what we do best.

During a seminar held on Friday at the Department for Business Innovation and Skills, the ODA announced that there’s still a massive £1 billion left to spend on the remaining 50% of the construction of the Olympic sites. And if that wasn’t enough to whet your appetite, there’s also £700 million of private investor money that LOCOG (London Organising Committee for the Olympic Games) will be using to procure. As always, all direct ODA and LOCOG opportunities will be advertised on the online portal www.CompeteFor.co.uk. For your chance at striking gold get your business registered today!

So, here they are…

Services

• Late 09/early 2010: Graphic Design, Translation and Public Relations
• January – March: Office Accessories, Supplies and Services
• April – June: Operational Readiness Support and Information Services

Sports

• Late 09/early 2010: Equestrian Surface, Gymnastics, Athletics and Archery Equipment and Athletics Flooring
• January – March: Gym Fitness, Canoeing and Swimming Pool Equipment and Support Boats for Sailing
• April – June: Rowing, Sailing and Cycling Equipment

Artists, Performance and Events

• Late 09/early 2010: Major Event Production Services
• January-March: Photographic and Video Services and Photographic and Filming Equipment

Soft Facilities Management and Catering

• Early 2010: Catering and Food Services, Cleaning and Waste, Clothing and Uniforms, Signage and Flags, Soft Facilities Management, Luggage and Cases, Plants and Flowers

Technology

• Late 09/early 2010: IT Master re-seller, Unix Servers
• January-March: Framework for New Media Providers up to

What’s more, Westminster City Council has announced that CompeteFor will be incorporated into their procurement code. Bovis Lend Lease (2012 Athletes Village) and Transport for London have also embraced the website and encouraged their supply chains to source suppliers of their own through the system.

CompeteFor has put together a really useful resource centre to help you get started so check out http://www.londonbusinessnetwork.com/competefor/ for more help.

Are you in the running to get a slice of the pie?