The US buys more goods and services from the UK than from almost any other country. The bilateral trade relationship ran at roughly $312 billion in 2023, with services making up the majority on the UK side. Financial services, legal, consulting, and technology are the categories where UK firms win. Manufacturing and engineering follow.
Most UK suppliers approach this market the same way: find a US contact, send a proposal, wait. That works occasionally. There's a faster path that most UK suppliers miss entirely.
The supplier diversity opening
US corporations with revenues above roughly $1 billion almost universally run supplier diversity programs. These programs set spending targets for minority-owned, women-owned, veteran-owned, and other certified diverse suppliers. Procurement teams are measured against those targets. When they fall short, they look for certified suppliers to make up the gap.
That gap is your entry point.
US multinationals with significant UK operations — JPMorgan, Goldman Sachs, Google UK, Microsoft UK, Amazon UK, Accenture UK — track Tier 2 spend, meaning spend by their prime contractors with diverse subcontractors. A UK business supplying a US company's UK prime contractor can be counted toward that prime contractor's diverse spend if the UK business holds a recognised diversity certification.
The mechanism is real and it moves procurement decisions.
Which US certifications are available to UK businesses
This is where most guides mislead you. The major US federal certifications — 8(a) Business Development, HUBZone, WOSB (Women-Owned Small Business), SDVOSB (Service-Disabled Veteran-Owned Small Business) — require a US business entity. If you're a UK company with no US legal presence, you cannot obtain them. Full stop.
The corporate certifications are different.
WEConnect International is the most important certification for UK women-owned businesses. WEConnect is a global non-profit that certifies women-owned businesses outside the US to the same standard used by WBENC (Women's Business Enterprise National Council) in the US. Member corporations — the list includes JPMorgan, Accenture, IBM, Bank of America, Microsoft, and roughly 100 others — accept WEConnect certification as equivalent to WBENC for supplier diversity reporting.
UK certification through WEConnect costs $350 per year. The application requires proof of 51% or more ownership and control by women, two years of business history, and documentation that the owner(s) are active in daily management. Turnaround runs six to eight weeks. Once certified, your business appears in the WEConnect global supplier database, which procurement teams at member corporations search directly.
The WEConnect UK chapter can be reached at weconnecteurope.org. The application portal is certification.weconnect.org.
NMSDC (National Minority Supplier Development Council) certifies US businesses only. There is no international equivalent. If you are a UK business that is minority-owned, your best path is either the WEConnect route if you also qualify as women-owned, or a direct relationship with a regional NMSDC council after establishing a US entity.
Disability:IN certifies disability-owned businesses globally. Their DOBE (Disability-Owned Business Enterprise) certification is accepted by Disability:IN member corporations worldwide. Cost is $350 per year for businesses under $1 million in revenue, scaling upward. See disabilityin.org/programs/global.
Registering in US corporate procurement portals
Most Fortune 500 procurement runs through three platforms: SAP Ariba, Coupa, and Jaggaer. Each handles supplier onboarding differently, and each has a path for non-US vendors.
SAP Ariba / SAP Business Network: The largest network, used by companies including Walmart, ExxonMobil, Procter & Gamble, and hundreds of others. Registration is free. Go to supplier.ariba.com, create an account, and select "supplier" as your role. You'll need your UK company registration number, VAT number, bank details, and DUNS number (now replaced by SAP Business Network ID for new registrations, though DUNS still appears in many onboarding forms). Ariba profiles are searchable across all member companies once live.
Coupa: Used by Salesforce, Workday, Aon, and others. Coupa's supplier portal is at supplier.coupahost.com. Non-US suppliers register with local tax ID (UK Company Number and VAT number accepted). Coupa does not have a universal searchable directory — you register in response to an invitation from a specific buyer, or through Coupa's "Coupa Advantage" portal if the buying company uses it.
Jaggaer: Used by Bristol Myers Squibb, Raytheon, and several US government contractors. Supplier registration is at jaggaer.com/supplier. Jaggaer's SourcePoint module allows buying companies to search registered suppliers by category, location, and diversity certification status.
DUNS numbers: Dun & Bradstreet still issues DUNS numbers free of charge to UK businesses at dnb.co.uk. Many US corporate onboarding forms still request them even where newer identifiers have been introduced. Get one before you start portal registrations.
US-UK data considerations
Sending business data across the Atlantic after Brexit required attention. The UK-US Data Bridge, which came into force in October 2023, allows UK businesses to transfer personal data to certified US companies without additional safeguards under UK GDPR. If you're sharing employee data, customer data, or personal information as part of supplier onboarding or contract performance, check that your US counterpart is Data Bridge certified. The current certified list is at trade.gov/data-privacy-framework-program.
This matters practically when US procurement portals ask for information about your employees, directors, or beneficial owners. Most large US corporations doing business in the UK are Data Bridge certified. Confirm before you submit.
US companies buying from UK businesses — by category
Financial services: JPMorgan's UK operations (JPMorgan Chase Bank NA, London Branch) and Goldman Sachs International in London both have active supplier diversity programs tied to their US parent programs. JPMorgan's global supplier diversity page is at jpmorganchase.com/impact/supplier-diversity. Goldman's is at goldmansachs.com/working-with-us/suppliers. Both accept WEConnect certification for UK women-owned suppliers. Categories actively sourced from UK suppliers include legal services, financial technology, data and analytics, and facilities management.
Technology: Google UK (headquartered in King's Cross, London) and Microsoft UK (Reading, with major London presence) both run supplier diversity programs aligned with their US parent standards. Google's supplier diversity portal is at google.com/supplierdiversity. Microsoft's is at microsoft.com/en-us/procurement. Both use SAP Ariba or equivalent platforms for onboarding. UK technology suppliers in areas like cybersecurity, cloud integration, and AI have an active market here.
Consulting and professional services: Accenture UK is a significant buyer. Their supplier diversity program mirrors the global Accenture standard, which accepts WEConnect certification. Accenture's supplier registration runs through their SAP Ariba instance. Consulting, change management, and specialist training are categories where UK firms win regularly.
Manufacturing and engineering: Rolls-Royce supplies major US defense and aerospace primes. US primes — Lockheed Martin, Raytheon, Boeing — have Tier 2 supplier diversity programs and actively seek certified suppliers in their UK supply chains. Lockheed's small business and supplier diversity contact is at lockheedmartin.com/suppliers.
Practical first steps
- Determine which certification fits your business. Women-owned: start at weconnecteurope.org and budget $350/year plus eight weeks. Disability-owned: start at disabilityin.org/programs/global. Neither applies: skip certification for now and go direct through portals, but expect a longer sales cycle without the diverse supplier tag.
- Get a DUNS number from Dun & Bradstreet at dnb.co.uk. Free, takes 24-48 hours.
- Register on SAP Business Network at supplier.ariba.com. Fill your profile completely, including NAICS codes (US industry classification codes — use naics.com to find the codes that match your services). A complete profile with NAICS codes and diversity certifications is searchable by procurement teams.
- Identify the supplier diversity contact at your target US corporation. Most Fortune 500 companies publish a supplier diversity contact or team page. Search "[Company name] supplier diversity" and look for the corporate affairs or procurement section. An email to that contact with your WEConnect certification and a two-paragraph description of your services gets a faster response than a cold sales approach.
- Target Tier 2 first. If JPMorgan UK is not buying directly from you today, find out who their prime contractors are for your category. UK firms that are already prime contractors for US companies in the UK are your fastest path to revenue. Offer to supply them as a certified subcontractor. They can count your spend toward their Tier 2 diversity reporting requirements.
The $312 billion relationship does not distribute itself evenly. Certified, registered, and correctly positioned UK suppliers get into procurement pipelines that uncertified suppliers simply cannot access. The paperwork is real but finite: one certification, one DUNS number, one Ariba profile. After that, the buying companies find you.
