Announcements tool - how to kill the subcontractor spam and keep everyone connected

Update 30th May - We've cancelled deployment of the FND Announce tool as the DWP are now setting up their own database. To go on the DWP database, you need to complete the Excel stencil attached to this post and e-mail it to sheffieldmayfieldcourt [dot] flexiblenewdeal [at] dwp [dot] gsi [dot] gov [dot] uk. The DWP's invitation letter for the database is here and some other ways to get yourself heard can be found here.

We've been working on a clever tool for both primes and subcontractors over the past two days, and could do with some feedback on whether people would find it useful.

The problem
The only way for potential primes and subcontractors to find each other right now is through the briefing attendees list published on the DWP's website. This is a fairly haphazard way of handling information, and is likely to lead to the same thing that happened with Pathways to Work: primes receiving 30 emails a day through a variety of sources, often completely inappropriate because somebody's mailed the entire list of attendees. This leads to confusion and badness.

The solution
Primes sign up to Districts that interest them. They can then post notices to potential subcontractors who are also signed up to the District. These notices are collated and sent to all signed-up subcontractors, who can manage their preferences and contact details to make sure the right person gets the right information at the right time.

Likewise, subcontractors can post notices to potential prime contractors in a District. These are also collated and sent to the signed-up primes, who can manage their preferences and contact details to make sure the right person gets the right information at the right time, as a single e-mail rather than 30 separate ones fired into various parts of the organisation.

Additionally, all of the notices will be kept on a website so that anyone can immediately see which primes and subcontractors have posted their interest in a contract. This means that information is persistent and will not get lost in an unfortunate inbox accident.

So, what do you think of this idea? I'll be talking with some primes over the next few days, and if enough of them are interested I can have it running on the Indus Delta website inside a week. As with everything else on the site, it would be entirely free, and organisations posting on the site would retain copyright on their announcements.