Glossary

We understand that procurement can be confusing. Organisations often use different terms to describe the same thing. With that in mind, we designed this glossary to make buying with us and navigating our website easier. It is not designed to be an extensive list of all procurement terms.



Containing

E

Early market engagement

Early market engagement (EME), also known as soft market testing, is the process of engaging with suppliers before you begin buying goods or services for your organisation. It gives suppliers the opportunity to both inform the specification and to get ready to meet the demand.

Find out how to carry out early market engagements successfully.

Under the Procurement Act 2023 this is replaced by preliminary market engagement.