Public Sector Appointment Setting for Companies Selling to the NHS, Councils and Education

ORRJO books sales meetings with public sector buyers for companies that sell to the NHS, councils, education and housing. For Venesky Brown, a public sector recruitment consultancy, we booked 250+ qualified meetings across a three-year partnership. Opportunities booked include NHS England and the Scottish Government. Lead Generation starts from £2,500 a month.

This page is about business-to-business appointment setting: booking meetings between a supplier and the people inside public bodies who buy from suppliers. It is not about public appointments to boards, or booking NHS patient appointments. It covers our public sector case study, how public buying differs from selling to companies, where outbound fits and where it must stop, the UK rules on calls and emails, and what it costs. Every outside figure links to its source, checked on 13 October 2026.

• Price: Lead Generation from £2,500 a month. Most clients invest between £2,500 and £10,000 a month.
• Public sector proof: Venesky Brown, 250+ qualified meetings across a three-year partnership, in NHS, local government, education and housing.
• First meetings: outreach begins within 2 weeks of kickoff, and first qualified meetings typically land within 2 weeks of launch.
• How: calls, email and LinkedIn in your company's name, run by our in-house SDR team, with your approval before any meeting is booked.
• Track record: 12,500+ meetings booked and 90%+ meeting attendance.
• Term: a 3-month paid pilot is available to start.

What has ORRJO delivered for a public sector supplier?

Our public sector case study is Venesky Brown: 250+ qualified meetings booked across a three-year partnership, in four public sector verticals: NHS, local government, education and housing.

The case study describes Venesky Brown as "A public sector recruitment consultancy selling consultancy-led advisory into some of the hardest buyers to reach." In its words: "Venesky Brown operates exclusively in the public sector. Their buyers are senior operational, estates, procurement and facilities leaders. People with packed diaries, formal buying processes and no patience for generic outreach."

What ORRJO ran: "A fully managed outbound appointment setting programme. Built around Venesky Brown's qualification bar and run by our in-house SDR team across a three-year partnership. Targeted lists, problem-led outreach across calls, email and LinkedIn, and qualified meetings booked directly into the diary."

The case study reports meetings and opportunities booked, not contracts won, and it carries no client quote. Read the Venesky Brown case study.

How is selling to the public sector different from selling to companies?

Public bodies buy under procurement rules: the law and each body's own process decide how a purchase is advertised, who can be asked to quote and how suppliers communicate during a tender. The government's short guide for suppliers to the Procurement Act 2023 says that on 24 February 2025 "the rules that shape how public bodies buy goods and services changed", that suppliers need to know about the changes, and that this "includes supplying to government departments, the NHS, local authorities, universities, schools, social housing organisations, police and fire brigades and utility companies." Devolved Scottish bodies follow separate rules, covered below.

The thresholds decide which rules apply

Most provisions of the Procurement Act 2023 apply only to a public contract: one that is not exempted and has an estimated value, including VAT, of not less than the threshold amounts (Cabinet Office guidance on thresholds). Certain contracts below those amounts are subject to separate below-threshold provisions. The table shows the goods and services thresholds; works, utilities, defence and security, and light touch contracts have their own, set out in the same guidance.

If an authority intends to advertise a notifiable below-threshold contract, it must first publish a below-threshold tender notice on the central digital platform, and after awarding one it must publish a contract details notice. There is no requirement to publish a tender notice where the authority invites quotes, proposals or tenders from suppliers on a framework, or "from one or more targeted individual suppliers, provided it does not advertise the procurement in any other way" (Below-threshold guidance).

Frameworks decide who a buyer can call on

"A framework is a type of commercial agreement and provides a compliant way for the public sector to buy products or services from pre-approved suppliers," says the Government Commercial Agency, which was the Crown Commercial Service until 1 April 2026. It says there are no joining fees; suppliers pay a small commission, or levy, on sales made through the framework. Once a closed framework has started and places are awarded, no new suppliers can join. Registering with Find a Tender or Contracts Finder for alerts does not make you a GCA supplier: "You must respond to a tender and be successfully awarded a place." If there is no relevant opportunity now, it says you may be able to subcontract through existing suppliers.

The Act also "Makes commercial frameworks more open, so prospective suppliers are not shut out for long periods of time," according to the government's guide for suppliers. Even so, a place is a starting point. The government's 2026 guide for small suppliers working with the NHS says "Most NHS organisations are encouraged to buy through existing frameworks or NHS Supply Chain," and also: "being listed speeds up procurement but doesn't guarantee sales" (How SMEs can work effectively with the NHS).

The NHS is many buyers, not one

The same NHS guide, published on 24 February 2026, says "There is no single, central map of 'who buys what' so expect variability." It advises suppliers to view each buying organisation, "be that an NHS trust or ICB", as an individual customer, notes that "decisions are often made by panels, not individuals", and says: "make sure you know who influences, who pays and who signs." The guide also notes that the NHS Provider Selection Regime "has been in place since April 2024, and applies to health, public health and some social care contracts."

In the guide's introduction, Graeme Cameron, vice-chair of NHS England's SME Advisory Group, writes that SMEs account for around 22% of NHS third-party spend in England, and that while the NHS works with more than 80,000 suppliers, an estimated 85% of them are SMEs. The National Procurement Policy Statement asks contracting authorities to give "SMEs and VCSEs a fair chance at public contracts".

Councils need to know you before they can ask for a quote

Rossendale Borough Council tells suppliers that "Council Officers decide the most efficient way to purchase up to £5,000," and suggests "contacting that Council Service directly to make them aware of the product or service that your company offers." Above £5,000, where it seeks quotes, it says "The appropriate Council Service will need to be aware of your company so that they can ask you to quote." Scottish Borders Council says that for contracts up to £50k with no existing contract to use, it gets at least three quotes, and that to take part your company must be registered on Public Contracts Scotland, "and the relevant service must know about your company to request a quote." These are two councils' own rules, so check the rules of each council you sell to. GOV.UK's guidance on selling to the public sector tells suppliers to contact their local council or public sector organisation "about how to become an approved supplier".

For scale, Oxygen Finance, which offers public sector spend data to suppliers, puts third-party spend by local authorities in England at £91.8bn in 2024, up by 10% on 2023, based on the invoices over £500 that councils publish.

Scotland runs its own rules

Procurement is largely a devolved matter in Wales and Scotland and a transferred matter in Northern Ireland, and devolved Scottish authorities are generally excluded from the Procurement Act 2023: Scottish procurement legislation continues to apply to them (Cabinet Office guidance on devolved contracting authorities). The Scottish Government's SPPN 5/2026 says devolved Scottish contracting authorities, which include the Scottish Government, Scottish health boards, Scottish local authorities, and Scottish universities and colleges, "continue to be subject to the pre-existing rules which came from the EU Directives", and to the Procurement Reform (Scotland) Act 2014 and the Procurement (Scotland) Regulations 2016. All Scottish public sector buying organisations must advertise regulated procurements on Public Contracts Scotland, and the 2014 Act's thresholds remain £50,000 for goods and services and £2 million for works contracts, both excluding VAT (SPPN 4/2025).

Where does outbound fit in public sector buying, and where must it stop?

Outbound fits before a tender is published, when the people who buy need to know your company exists, and once a tender is live its own rules decide how you communicate. The two councils quoted above say a service must know about a supplier before it can ask for a quote, and Rossendale suggests contacting the service directly. The Cabinet Office guidance on preliminary market engagement says the policy objective is "to encourage contracting authorities to speak with the market before commencing a procurement". It says that engagement "takes place before the publication of a tender or transparency notice", lists "identifying suppliers that may be able to supply the goods, services or works required" among its purposes, and names one to one meetings and "a simple invitation to prospective suppliers to get in touch" among its formats. Authorities are not required to run it.

The same guidance sets the limit. Engagement "must be conducted in a way that does not give a supplier an unfair advantage or distort competition", and if a supplier's participation has given it an unfair advantage that cannot be avoided, "the supplier must be excluded from the procurement."

Once a tender is live, the buyer's process takes over. One council's wording, from Warwick District Council's tendering page: "If you try to influence staff or try to obtain information outside the process your bid could be disqualified," and "All communication in relation to the contract will be made via the eportal linked to the opportunity." The 2026 NHS guide adds: "while it may be tempting to bypass procurement to speak directly with end users, resist the urge."

What this means for an outbound programme:

• Include procurement, do not route around it. Venesky Brown's buyers included procurement leaders alongside operational, estates and facilities leaders.
• Map each organisation. Know who influences, who pays and who signs before the first call, and treat each buying organisation as its own customer.
• Follow the tender's rules once it opens. Read each tender's instructions and use the channel it names. At Warwick District Council, that is the eportal linked to the opportunity.
• Do not seek an unfair advantage. If taking part in market engagement gives a supplier an unfair advantage that cannot be avoided, the guidance says the supplier must be excluded.
• Qualify early. The NHS guide's advice: "Don't be afraid to walk away from a conversation early, if you can see that those purchasing drivers don't play to your strengths."

How does ORRJO run public sector appointment setting?

We run it the way we ran it for Venesky Brown: built around your qualification bar, run by our in-house SDR team, with targeted lists, problem-led outreach across calls, email and LinkedIn, and qualified meetings booked directly into your diary. The six steps are the same as every ORRJO Lead Generation programme.

1. Onboarding workshop. Around 90 minutes and between 150 and 200 questions, led by our operations team.
2. Data and targeting. Lists built from scratch against your ICP. Every record resolves to a named person with a reason to call. Never just a company.
3. Outreach in your name. Calls, email and LinkedIn, run together, with dedicated personas and purpose-bought domains. People on every conversation, AI underneath them. Two to three SDRs are trained on your account so cover never drops. Outreach runs in English.
4. Qualified against your bar. Right organisation, right person, genuine need. Anything on top, such as a confirmed budget, a timeline or a second stakeholder, is agreed at discovery. For Venesky Brown, the case study says: "Meetings only matter when they are with the right organisation and the right person, at senior level, with a genuine need."
5. Briefing and approval. Before a meeting is booked you get the briefing notes: name, role, LinkedIn, the problems they raised, what they are doing about it today and why it is not working. You give the green light before we book it. We confirm with the prospect the day before.
6. Reporting. A dedicated EU-hosted CRM environment with a live dashboard, every call logged with its recording, and a briefing note on every meeting.

The service level. Every engagement runs to a written service level agreement on the meetings we book. If a meeting does not happen due to no show, we replace it. If an SDR leaves, we backfill within two weeks at no cost. How we work walks through an engagement from the first call.

How soon do the first meetings come?

Outreach begins within 2 weeks of kickoff, and first qualified meetings typically land within 2 weeks of launch. Most ORRJO engagements run at 4 to 12 highly qualified meetings a month, with entry level typically targeting 4 to 5. We give you targets and what they're based on, never guarantees.

Meetings are not contracts. We found no official figure for how long public sector buying takes, so we do not quote one. The NHS guide's advice is to expect variability and to know who influences, who pays and who signs.

Is it legal to cold call or email public sector buyers in the UK?

It can be, within the rules the ICO sets out: live B2B calls must be screened against both the TPS and the Corporate TPS (CTPS), and the ICO's telephone marketing guidance says government bodies register with the CTPS. Email rules depend on whether the body is a corporate subscriber, and UK GDPR applies to the named people you contact.

Calls

• Screen both registers. The ICO says companies, some partnerships and government bodies register with the CTPS, and sole traders and some partnerships with the TPS, so "For business-to-business (B2B) calls, you will therefore need to screen against both the TPS and the CTPS registers, as well as your own 'do not call' list."
• Public numbers are not exempt. "Just because a telephone number is publicly available or appears in a telephone directory does not mean it overrides a TPS or CTPS registration" (ICO live calls guidance).
• Check bought lists. If a list supplier says it has screened the data, make sure that happened recently: a registration can take 28 days to become active (ICO live calls guidance). If someone you called in the past later registers, the ICO says you can't make any more direct marketing calls to them from that point.
• Say who you are. The ICO's telephone marketing guidance says you must always say who is calling, allow your number (or an alternative contact number) to be displayed, and provide a contact address or freephone number if asked.

Email

• Corporate subscribers. The ICO's B2B marketing guidance says the PECR rule on marketing by electronic mail does not apply to corporate subscribers, which include companies, limited liability partnerships, Scottish partnerships "and some government bodies". An employee's work email or number counts as their employer's.
• When unsure, treat it as an individual. The ICO's B2B guidance says "some government bodies", not all. Where you cannot tell whether details belong to a corporate or an individual subscriber, the ICO says to "treat the details as belonging to an individual subscriber" and follow the electronic mail rules.
• Always offer an opt-out. Give a valid address to opt out or unsubscribe, and comply with a corporate subscriber's opt-out request.

Personal data

• UK GDPR still applies when you hold the name of the person who represents the organisation. The two lawful bases the ICO calls most relevant are consent and legitimate interests.
• Tell people. If the data came from public sources or a third party, you must provide privacy information within a reasonable period and no later than one month from collection (ICO B2B marketing guidance).
• Respect objections. People have an absolute right to stop their data being used for direct marketing.

Penalties

In a statement on 5 February 2026, when the next phase of the Data (Use and Access) Act commenced, the ICO said the Act gives it power to issue fines "of up to £17.5 million or 4% of global turnover" under PECR (ICO statement). In May 2026 the ICO fined an energy company £160,000 for making over 700,000 unsolicited marketing sales calls to numbers registered on the TPS and CTPS; its data "had been purchased without establishing whether the numbers had been screened against the TPS or CTPS." The ICO marks its PECR guidance as under review after the Data (Use and Access) Act.

At ORRJO, outreach is run under GDPR, with EU hosting and EU data residency, automatic do not call handling, and data cleaned and validated before anyone dials it. Our ICO Data Protection Registration is CSN3566949. This section summarises the ICO's guidance; it is not legal advice.

What does public sector appointment setting cost?

ORRJO Lead Generation starts from £2,500 a month, and most clients invest between £2,500 and £10,000 a month. The final figure depends on the volume of qualified meetings you need and how deep the qualification goes, both set at discovery and confirmed in your proposal.

A 3-month paid pilot is available to start. Engagements typically run 6 to 12 months, and committing to 12 months earns a discounted rate. The full breakdown, including what other UK agencies charge, is on B2B lead generation pricing, and every ORRJO price is on the pricing page.

Of the three public sector outbound agencies we checked (Blueberry Marketing Solutions, More Than Words and GovConnect), none shows a price on the pages we checked. Viewing opportunities on the government's own service is free: its guide for suppliers says Find a Tender "is free to use for everyone. There are no charges and you should not pay to view opportunities in the public sector." And if outbound is not the right answer, we say so: about one in four discovery calls end with us recommending you build in house instead.

Who else helps suppliers sell to the public sector?

Three agencies we found market outbound calling or appointment setting into the public sector by name: Blueberry Marketing Solutions, More Than Words and GovConnect. Alongside them, publishers and software firms help suppliers find and track opportunities. The table is not a ranking. Each description is in the firm's own words or drawn from its own site, and ORRJO's row is the publisher's entry.

Whichever you shortlist, ask each one for named public sector case studies with figures, their written definition of a qualified meeting, and who owns the data and sending domains when the contract ends. Our free agency scorecard lists the questions to ask before you sign, and they apply to us too.

Questions buyers ask

What is public sector appointment setting?

It is business-to-business appointment setting for companies that sell to public bodies: an outbound team finds the right people inside NHS organisations, councils, education and housing bodies, and books qualified sales meetings with them for the supplier. It is not about public appointments to boards or booking NHS patient appointments. ORRJO ran this for Venesky Brown, booking 250+ qualified meetings across a three-year partnership.

Can ORRJO book meetings with NHS and council buyers?

Yes. For Venesky Brown, a public sector recruitment consultancy, ORRJO booked 250+ qualified meetings across a three-year partnership, in NHS, local government, education and housing. Opportunities booked include NHS England, East Renfrewshire Council, Veterans Housing Association, Forth Valley College and the Scottish Government. Venesky Brown's buyers are senior operational, estates, procurement and facilities leaders.

Do I need to be on a framework to sell to the public sector?

It depends on the buyer and the contract. The Government Commercial Agency says a framework provides a compliant way for the public sector to buy from pre-approved suppliers, that no new suppliers can join a closed framework once it has started, and that you may be able to subcontract through existing suppliers. Below the thresholds, a public body can invite quotes from targeted individual suppliers without publishing a tender notice, provided it does not advertise the procurement in any other way.

Is it legal to cold call NHS trusts and councils?

It can be, within the ICO's rules. You can make live marketing calls to a business number that is not registered on the TPS or the Corporate TPS (CTPS), if it has not objected to your calls before and you are not marketing claims management services. The ICO says government bodies register with the CTPS, and that a number being public does not override a registration. Screen against both registers and your own do not call list. The ICO marks this guidance as under review after the Data (Use and Access) Act. This is not legal advice.

Can I contact a public body while its tender is live?

Be careful. Warwick District Council's tendering page warns that if you try to influence staff or obtain information outside the process, your bid could be disqualified, and that all communication goes through the e-portal linked to the opportunity. The government's 2026 NHS guide for small suppliers advises against bypassing procurement to speak directly with end users. Read the rules for each tender, and do your outreach before a tender opens.

Does the Procurement Act 2023 apply in Scotland?

Not to devolved Scottish bodies. Cabinet Office guidance says devolved Scottish authorities are generally excluded from the Act, and Scottish procurement legislation continues to apply to them. The Scottish Government's SPPN 5/2026 says they include the Scottish Government, health boards, local authorities, universities and colleges, and that they remain subject to the Procurement Reform (Scotland) Act 2014 and the Procurement (Scotland) Regulations 2016. Scottish public sector buyers must advertise regulated procurements on Public Contracts Scotland.

How much does public sector lead generation cost with ORRJO?

ORRJO Lead Generation starts from £2,500 a month, and most clients invest between £2,500 and £10,000 a month. The final figure depends on the volume of qualified meetings you need and how deep the qualification goes, both set at discovery and confirmed in your proposal. Sales days start from £350 a day. We found no published price for any of the three public sector outbound agencies we checked.

What contract does ORRJO ask for?

A 3-month paid pilot is available to start. Engagements typically run 6 to 12 months, and committing to 12 months earns a discounted rate. Every engagement runs to a written service level agreement on the meetings we book, and if a meeting does not happen due to no show, we replace it. Venesky Brown's programme ran across a three-year partnership.

Sources

1. GOV.UK, The Procurement Act 2023: A short guide for suppliers, first published 13 November 2023, checked 13 October 2026. Go-live date, who it covers, frameworks, Find a Tender being free.
2. GOV.UK, PPN 023: 2026 Threshold Amounts, published 27 November 2025, checked 13 October 2026. The £135,018 and £207,720 thresholds from 1 January 2026.
3. Cabinet Office, Guidance: Thresholds, checked 13 October 2026. What a public contract is, thresholds including VAT for 1 January 2026 to 31 December 2027, and the sub-central definition.
4. Cabinet Office, Guidance: Below-Threshold Contracts, checked 13 October 2026. The £12,000 and £30,000 levels, NHS Trusts as central government authorities, and notices on the central digital platform.
5. GOV.UK, UK1: the new Pipeline Notice, first published 11 April 2025, checked 13 October 2026.
6. Cabinet Office, Guidance: Frameworks, checked 13 October 2026. Maximum framework terms, including the open framework term and reopening rule.
7. Cabinet Office, Guidance: Preliminary Market Engagement, checked 13 October 2026.
8. Cabinet Office, Guidance: Devolved Contracting Authorities, updated 15 April 2026, checked 13 October 2026. Devolved Scottish authorities' exclusion from the Act.
9. Government Commercial Agency (formerly Crown Commercial Service), Become a supplier on a framework agreement and What is a framework in procurement? (last updated 20 April 2026), both checked 13 October 2026.
10. GOV.UK, How SMEs can work effectively with the NHS, published 24 February 2026, checked 13 October 2026. NHS buying, frameworks, the Provider Selection Regime and the introduction's SME figures.
11. Cabinet Office, National Procurement Policy Statement (PDF), 13 February 2025, checked 13 October 2026.
12. GOV.UK, Sell goods or services to the public sector, checked 13 October 2026.
13. Scottish Government, SPPN 5/2026, 18 February 2026, and SPPN 4/2025, 3 November 2025, checked 13 October 2026. Rules for devolved Scottish bodies and the 2014 Act thresholds.
14. Supplier Journey (Scottish Government), Public Contracts Scotland, checked 13 October 2026.
15. Rossendale Borough Council, How to sell to the Council; Scottish Borders Council, How to sell to the council; Warwick District Council, Tendering procedure; all checked 13 October 2026.
16. Oxygen Finance, Third-party spend by local authorities in England, 7 July 2025, checked 13 October 2026. Vendor research based on council-published invoices over £500.
17. Information Commissioner's Office, Business-to-business marketing, Telephone marketing and How do we comply with the rules on live marketing calls?, each marked as under review after the Data (Use and Access) Act, checked 13 October 2026.
18. Information Commissioner's Office, Statement on the commencement of the Data (Use and Access) Act, 5 February 2026, and news release on a £160,000 fine for unsolicited marketing calls, 20 May 2026, checked 13 October 2026.
19. Blueberry Marketing Solutions, B2G telemarketing; More Than Words, telemarketing to the public sector; GovConnect, homepage; The Lead Gen Specialists, public sector page; Cogora, Wesleyan case study; all checked 13 October 2026.
20. Stotles, homepage and pricing page; Tussell, about page and plans page; Oxygen Finance, homepage; all checked 13 October 2026.

ORRJO figures come from the Venesky Brown case study, our pricing page and our methodology.