Sheffield City Council’s Diverse Business Directory

As an active response to recommendations presented in The Sheffield Race Equality Commission Report June 2022, Sheffield City Council invites organisations who consider themselves as “diverse” and/or “local” to join the Diverse Business Directory. 

The Diverse Business Directory is designed to be a type of priority list that will be used when identifying suppliers to notify and invite to bid for the Council’s contract opportunities.  

We will ask you to self-certify whether you are a “diverse” and a “local” business. You will need to meet at least one of these two definitions to be included on the Diverse Business Directory. 

• A “diverse” business is a business owned or majority-owned by a person(s) from a minority group (Black and Minority Ethnic, Disabled people, LGBTQ+, Neurodiverse people, Women). 

• A “local” business is a business with a registered address on Companies House, or the primary head office is located in Sheffield (for a local Sheffield business) or South Yorkshire (Rotherham, Barnsley Doncaster or Sheffield). 

By signing up, you will increase your organisation’s visibility within the Council. This means that your organisation will be intentionally considered when we publish opportunities that align with your business profile. While signing up doesn’t guarantee work, we believe it can positively contribute to increasing the award of public contracts to diverse businesses and SMEs in Sheffield. 

Sheffield City Council may contact you for additional information or evidence to demonstrate that you meet a definition before accepting you onto the Diverse Business Directory. Any information you provide to sign up will be used for our procurement processes, but we may contact you from time to time about any events or news regarding The Sheffield Diverse Business Advisory Board or the Diverse Business Directory. 

Providers will still need to ensure they are signed up to the Council’s e-tendering portal, YORTender, where we publish our contract opportunities: https://yortender.eu-supply.com/  

If you have any queries about the Diverse Business Directory, please email us at procurement@sheffield.gov.uk