Our recent Meet the Buyer event with Hartpury University and Hartpury College focused on three areas – ambitious plans, significant spending power, and a clear message for Gloucestershire businesses: there are opportunities to work with us.
At our most recent Meet the Buyer event, the Hartpury team shared its vision for the next 20 years – including ambitious investment, continued growth, and a drive to be outstanding in everything it does. For businesses in Gloucestershire, that ambition brings exciting opportunity.
Hartpury told our sold-out event that it is actively looking for new suppliers and partners, while working to make its procurement processes more accessible to smaller businesses in the county. Together Gloucestershire is a core part of this change, helping Hartpury find local suppliers for contract and tender opportunities and giving SMEs a route into its supply chain.
As Stuart Emerson, Director of Business, explained, the organisation’s direction of travel is focused on growth, continuous improvement, commercial viability, and becoming the best they can be.
Significant investment in infrastructure has already taken place over the last 15 years, and further investment is planned as Hartpury continues to develop its campus and services. That represents real potential for businesses across Gloucestershire.
To put that potential into context, Hartpury spent around £25 million on goods, services, and resources in 2024/25, demonstrating the scale of its spending power and the breadth of goods and services it needs to operate successfully.
However, Hartpury was keen to impress upon attendees at the event that it isn’t simply looking for suppliers who can deliver a product or service. It’s looking for strong propositions, good value, and partners who can contribute to its wider ambitions.
Sustainability and social value are central to procurement
One of the strongest messages from the event was that sustainability isn’t an optional extra at Hartpury.
It’s a theme that underpins the organisation’s 2030 strategy and is fully embedded into purchasing decisions, presenting an important opportunity – and a challenge – for prospective suppliers.
Businesses need to be able to demonstrate not only that they can deliver what is needed, but also how they can contribute to sustainability and social value while delivering it.
Hartpury operates a diverse campus, with historic buildings, agricultural activity, animals and a wide range of facilities. Finding sustainable solutions in that environment isn’t always straightforward, but it is considered mission-critical to the organisation’s success.
For businesses looking to work with Hartpury, being able to articulate their sustainability credentials and wider social impact will therefore be increasingly important.
Making it easier for SMEs to supply Hartpury
Perhaps one of the most encouraging messages for local businesses was Hartpury’s commitment to making its procurement processes more accessible.
Hartpury is looking to move away from an overreliance on framework tendering and make greater use of open tendering. The aim is to give local SMEs a better chance of becoming suppliers, rather than opportunities automatically going to large national organisations.
Its procurement processes and financial framework are also transparently shared on its website, helping businesses understand how they can work with Hartpury.
For lower-value, lower-risk opportunities – generally those under £50,000 – Together Gloucestershire is an important part of that process and a valuable route into Hartpury’s supply chain for local SMEs.
For Hartpury, Together Gloucestershire isn’t simply another place to advertise an opportunity, it’s fast becoming a core part of the proactive search for new suppliers. Becoming a Together Gloucestershire member, then, is one of the most practical things local businesses can do to increase their chances of being discovered by Hartpury’s procurement team. Businesses should also make sure they are registered on Find a Tender, where higher-value tenders are advertised by the team.
The message is simple: if you want to do business with Hartpury, make it easy for them to find you.
Answer the question – and answer it well
Hitesh Patel, Hartpury’s Procurement Contracts Manager, also shared some valuable advice for businesses responding to tenders.
One of the biggest challenges Hartpury sees is standardised tender responses that don’t properly address what the organisation is actually asking for. His advice was clear: Answer the question – and map your response directly to the question being asked.
A strong response isn’t simply a description of your business, or a copy-and-paste answer you’ve used elsewhere. It should demonstrate that you’ve understood Hartpury’s specific requirements and explain clearly how your organisation can meet them. And if you win the work, the relationship doesn’t stop there. Hartpury is looking for suppliers who embrace continuous improvement and want to develop the relationship over time.
More than procurement: building partnerships
The event also highlighted that there are opportunities to work with Hartpury beyond traditional procurement.
Teams working across employability, skills and careers are interested in two-way partnerships with businesses, helping students develop the skills, experience and confidence they need for the workplace.
Hartpury’s wider ambition is to make a positive impact not just for its students, but for the community around it. That means there are opportunities for businesses to engage through procurement, but also through skills, employability, sponsorship, partnerships and wider community activity.
What can businesses do next?
For SMEs interested in working with Hartpury, the event highlighted three practical actions:
- Join Together Gloucestershire
Lower-value, lower-risk opportunities under £50,000 are being searched for through the platform right now. - Register on Find a Tender
This is particularly important for businesses interested in higher-value opportunities. - Make your proposition clear
Think about what makes your business different, how you deliver value, and how you can contribute to sustainability and social value. When responding to a tender, answer the question directly and demonstrate how your solution meets Hartpury’s requirements.
Businesses can also keep up to date with Hartpury’s wider commercial opportunities by joining its Business Development Newsletter and following Hartpury Commercial on LinkedIn.
An exciting time to engage
Our Meet the Buyer event offered a valuable insight into an organisation that is clearly entering an exciting period. Hartpury has ambitious plans, significant spending power and a determination to keep improving. Most importantly for local businesses, it is open to working with new suppliers and collaborative partners.
For SMEs across Gloucestershire, that means getting on the radar now, understanding how Hartpury buys, and building relationships that could develop over the years ahead. And with Together Gloucestershire playing a core role in helping Hartpury find new suppliers, becoming a member is a simple but important first step towards becoming part of Hartpury’s next chapter. If you’ve been waiting for a sign to join – this is it!
A huge thank you to the Hartpury University and Hartpury College team for hosting this Meet the Buyer event. Thanks also to the Together Gloucestershire team and volunteers for supporting. Tickets for our next Meet the Buyer event on 25th November are on sale now. Grab yours to be in the room with key buyers covering Gloucestershire Highways including WSP, Gloucestershire County Council, and Ringway.
