OREANDA-NEWS. SSE's award winning Open4Business (O4B) portal has supported around £60m of work to local suppliers during its first two years. The portal, which is free of charge to use, facilitates trade and engagement between SSE and local suppliers and service providers.

The O4B portal allows local suppliers to view SSE opportunities, register as a supplier and respond to notices free of charge. Users of the site can then also advertise their own opportunities such as sub-contracting work for SSE projects.

Sandy Biggar, SSE Director of Procurement and Logistics, said: "The portal has gone from strength to strength since its introduction in 2012, facilitating our investment back to small medium enterprises.

"With the support of key stakeholders, Open4Business Highlands and Islands has awarded over 200 opportunities to local organisations from all across the North of Scotland. With just over 1,300 organisations now registered on the platform, ranging from contractors to accommodation providers, the O4B portal really has become the source of key opportunities for businesses across the North of Scotland."

"Following the success of the Highlands and Islands portal, we decided to launch our second O4B initiative to support our assets across the M62 corridor - Open4Business Trans-Pennine. Since it was launched in September 2013, the Trans-Pennine portal has been fundamental in introducing new suppliers to SSE in the region, and will be vital in advertising a variety of goods, works or services in support of other assets and projects in the area."

Last year the portal received external recognition in the form of two awards - one from the Scottish Council for Development and Industry for Business Service and Engagement, the second at the Green Energy Awards for Supply Chain Development.