We’re committed to making it easier for organisations to work with us and provide their services and products to help make the railway in the North of England even better.
Depending on what your organisation provides, and what projects you want to work on, there are four steps involved in becoming a supplier for Northern. It is also important that any organisation that wants to work with us knows what we expect from our suppliers.
Working with Northern Trains
We demand value from our suppliers and our focus is on improving efficiency and performance across the Northern network. It is important that all our suppliers work within the terms set out in our supply chain code of conduct and understand how we measure performance.
We have a set of minimum standards that all suppliers are expected to abide by. New suppliers working for us undergo a unique onboarding process, linked to systems, registration, and certification verification.
Find out more about working with us including supplier relationship management and supplier performance.
How to gain access to Northern's tendering opportunities
Find out how to gain access to our tending opportunities on the steps below.
All active tendering opportunities are advertised via Delta. A list of upcoming tendering opportunities for FY25-26 can be viewed on the Northern procurement pipeline.
All documents related to the procurement opportunity will be shared via Delta and available for registered Suppliers once the tender goes live.
For any additional information on the upcoming tenders, please contact [email protected]
If you supply goods, works, or services under Railway Industry Commodity Classification List (RICCL) codes, or wish to do so, please note that we may opt to use the Railway Safety and Standards Board (RSSB) Rail Industry Supplier Qualification Scheme (RISQS) as a ‘Qualification System’ under the Procurement Act (2023), and selection of participants may occur directly from the ‘Qualification System’ without placing a further ‘Find a Tender’ service call for competition.
For suppliers of safety critical goods, works or services (such as, RICCL codes) who wish to contract directly with us, register on RISQS and become a supplier with audited status. RISQS is both a Qualification System under the Procurement Act Regulations and an assurance system run by the RSSB.
We recognise RISQS as an assurance system for suppliers with whom we may contract directly. RISQS is not a mandatory requirement for most of the goods and services Suppliers, however, NTL may require RISQS accreditation on some of the engineering, construction and safety critical projects (further information is outlined in the tender documents for each procurement opportunity).
If you supply goods, works and services under RICCL categories to buyers other than Northern, we advise you to check with the relevant buying organisations to find out which supplier assurance system(s) they use, if at all.
Register on Delta. This is our procurement portal, and any organisation wishing to supply goods, works, or services to Northern Trains must be registered on here.
Please see a list of upcoming tendering opportunities for FY25-26 on the Northern procurement pipeline.
Ensure you are up to speed with any of our relevant standards that are relevant to procurement. All our standards can be accessed on our Minimum Certification and Standards document.
External Qualification Systems and Frameworks - Registrations
For some requirements we may opt to utilise third party qualification systems or frameworks, those organisations recognised by Northern who provide either qualification systems or frameworks include the below.
Please refer to the organisations supplier onboard process for more information.
The Helicon
One South Place
London
EC2M 2RB
Email: s[email protected]
217 Wellington Road
Stockport
SK2 6NG
Email: [email protected]
Achilles Information Ltd
30 Western Avenue
Milton Park
Abington
Oxon
OX14 4SH
Email: [email protected]
Onboarding as a new supplier
As a new supplier, as with many businesses, we operate an onboarding process to establish suppliers in vendors in systems that operate across our business.
We operate a strict NO Purchase Order NO Pay Policy, post award of contracts, suppliers should NOT engage in any works without a Purchase Order being issued, this ensures that the financial governance and authority to instruct works within Northern has been followed. Failure to comply with this policy may result in a supplier not receiving payment for services or goods.
The initial setup focuses on COUPA, our Purchase to Pay system, and the following steps demonstrate the step-by-step process.
As part of the tendering process, we will vet a supplier’s accreditations and certifications to ensure these meet the minimum standards prescribed by us.
The contract award for any service provision will be dependent upon a supplier meeting these conditions. If successful, the summary of certification and accreditation will be documented in our award process.
Following the governance and signature process for contracts awarded to provide services, goods, or civils works to us, internally, we would commence the creation of a new vendor in our Purchase to Pay system. This internal process is scrutinised and considers what services, goods, or works are being provided.
Once a vendor creation profile is completed and approved, the system will automatically issue a supplier profile form via email to the suppliers lead contact, this will prompt the supplier to complete the vendor profile.
A fully completed vendor profile completes our review, which ensures that all safety critical, cyber, financial and accreditation aspects of the suppliers’ details and goods and services align to our minimum requirements.
Find out more about our minimum standard requirements Minimum Certification and Standards document.
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