One small step for SME’s trying to access public contracts
Posted on August 20th, 2009
A recent independent review of public contracts by Anne Glover called for the www.supply2.gov.uk website to be made free by the end of next year.
That request has been passed, and the site is now to free to register on, but it is only a small step in making the process cheaper, easier and more viable to small and medium enterprises.
The process is a laborious and often frustrating one, with many small businesses giving up. The email alerts (which are still chargeable) deliver small businesses with a regular feed of opportunities – but the process for following up these opportunities is fraught with red tape and bureaucracy.
The process requires you to display a working knowledge of the local authority and complete a pre-qualification questionnaire form. Malcolm Pitcher, an In-House Research and Training specialist has gone through the process many times.
“The one time we did manage to do a full tender it took a week of working through the 40-odd pages of tender documents, and you get a letter back saying you did not get it. You see that you were one of 65 other small businesses trying to get a bit of trainig work worth £15,000. The whole process is tortuous and a waste of time.” Said Mr Pitcher.
supply2 is not the only portal where you can apply for contracts. competefor.com advertises contracts for he Olympic games in 2012. Whilst the competefor website appears to be easier than supply2, it is misrepresented in that it still takes a couple of hours to complete the application forms.
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5 Responses to “One small step for SME’s trying to access public contracts”
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Lloyd Sewell Says:
August 20th, 2009 at 6:19 pmHello,
think there is a very small problem here – you like a great many small firms expect to walk up to a very beautiful lady in the high street and expect to put out your fire.
It does not work like that and the sooner you get serious and learn the processes and procedures the easier and more profitable you and your business will become.
A recent Parliamentary report shows that small businesses are still finding difficult to bid for public sector contracts, despite Government policies and attempts to intervene. The report, released by the House of Commons All Party Parliamentary Small Business Group (APPSBG), recommends that many barriers still need to be removed to help SME’s win public sector contracts.(Ref. Source: Contract Eye (http://www.contracteye.co.uk/public_sector_contracts.shtml))
A major problem is not that public sector agencies are not preparing the pathways so that SME’s find the process of tendering a lot easier – a recent survey conducted in the London area by Business Junction concluded that most SME’s do not tender for public sector contracts – their perception is that they will be unsuccessful and their time and resources would be better spent on pursuing activities which are less demanding and whose outcome is more within their grasp. (Ref: London SME Survey conducted by Business Junction – March-2009)
Other major factors include the level of audit that public sector agencies have to undergo and the frequency of these audits, which SME’s might not be aware of.
Public sector agencies inadvertently award contracts to suppliers who take the time to get into system and find out how it works and (in most cases) provide goods/services/supplies that are of the required standard at the right price and at the right time and by so doing provide added value.
At the same time that public sector agencies are preparing to make the system more attractive (for use of a better word) SME’s also should show some commitment to take part in the system – by finding out ‘how the system of public procurement operates, it is of no use that SME’s complain on the difficulties of entry and subsequent success – while at the same time giving excuses as to why they do not take part.
Among the reasons for the audit is that – it is public money (collected in taxes – from the same SME’s that do not take part) – that is being spent, these SME’s fail to realise that the UK is part of the EU and that SME’s in any part of the EU has the same right to submit a tender in response to an invitation to tender, just the same way as UK SME’s.
If public sector agencies spent a lot of their time sorting out unsuitable tenders there would be an outcry on how much time and money is wasted on such a process from these same SME’s.
SME’s have a duty to find out ‘how the system works and what is required to satisfy the requirements of the system’, it is not a sustainable position to imagine that the government will somehow wave away EU or their own policy directives just because some SME’s say ‘I am not interested, it is too difficult and anyway I might not win the contract’.
Another point is that even if SME’s were given the 30% of public sector contracts as indicated by various reports it is not certain that they would flock to take part and in some cases – not all SME’s would be capable of fulfilling the requirements of these contracts – all SME’s need to be encouraged to allocate some time for personal training and personal and business development, which not only improve their chances of success but also other areas of their business activities – unfortunately training has been traditionally a sore point with most SME’s.
There is a process in all things and success only comes if and when you are fully prepared and competent enough to take part in the process, it is time for SME’s to stop complaining and make the effort to understand the system.
Regards
Lloyd Sewell
Lloyd Sewell
Tendering for Contracts Training
Tel: 01483 267098
http://www.tfc-training.com
You may listen our training presentation here:
http://www.tfc-training.com/tfct_pres.htm
You may down my free flash sample (PQQ) from here:
http://www.tfc-training.com/flh/tfct_pres.exe -
Mark Says:
August 26th, 2009 at 12:01 pmHi Lloyd,
Thanks for the comment, it is always good to get well constructed replies to give the readers a balanced viewpoint.
Regards
Argo Business Consultants
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Malcolm Pitcher Says:
September 10th, 2009 at 10:16 amThe newspaper article did not quote our full conversation. I wouldn’t want anyone to think that we had tried it once and just because we weren’t succesful we walked away.
We set aside 18 months to try to get just one contract. We reaaly did try to take part.
We studied, we read, we attended Supply to Gov seminars, we networked, we tried to find another research and/or training company that had succesfully entered the public sector in the last 3 years; no-one identified themselves.
I never got a straight answer from any authority that I called to ask “why do you demand previous experience?”
I would really like to speak to a business like mine, that has made the breakthrough.
In the meantime, it’s back to the private sector for me.
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admin Says:
September 10th, 2009 at 10:37 amThanks Malcolm,
If there are any sme’s out there that have made the public sector breakthrough that Malcolm talks about, then please contact Argo Business Consultants on 01424 776215 for an interview.
Kind Regards
Argo Business Consultants
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Malcolm Pitcher Says:
September 21st, 2009 at 8:54 amAn update:
We just tendered for a c£10k piece of research work with a local authority. It took us 3 days to complete the paperwork.
They emailed to tell us that we had not been succesful and that they had been “inundated” with tenders.
So I emailed them to ask how many had tendered. This is the reply I received:
“I was surprised to receive over 180 expressions of interest which were followed up by 49 costed submissions within the time frame and another 6 which we received too late to be included. I was surprised as this is quite a small piece of work really”.
What a scandalous waste of precious Small Business Resources! There has to be a better way.
