Mike has excelled in business for 27 years across a wide spectrum of sectors and functions including technology and manufacturing. He is the Non-Executive Chairman of Winning Tenders Group which specialises in helping SMEs WIN more Public Sector tenders and contracts, Non-Executive Director – Strategic Development for Procurement Connection which provides a community forum/ network and training for Public Sector buyers and SMEs wishing to trade with them. He also runs an International IT M&A Boutique and has other new ventures in the Tech Sector and Internet TV/Multi-media.
The laudable objective was also met with some consternation in the Public Sector. How were they to identify suitable SMEs? Many SMEs had chosen to ignore Public Sector contracts due to lack of resource and the unrealistically onerous bid processes. Only larger companies can afford the necessary time, money and people required to tackle the demanding pre-qualification and bid processes and reviews required and in many cases these are managed by external consultants. “Public sector contracts are difficult to win; and part of me believes that they should be considering the length and value of many of them. The problem is they are not always fair. Some of the problems we faced earlier on were; you need three years of accounts, they need to be audited and your turnover must be greater than the entire contract value. Not very SME friendly like David Cameron said they should be really are they?” explained Jamie B Waller, Chief Executive of JBW Group Limited.
The Cabinet Office has decided to make the process simpler by allowing any company to tender for a contract with a value smaller than £100,000. However, this introduces other problems for both the SME and Public Sector buyers. The SME now has a less onerous process, but considerably more competitors for the same contract, so is it better to qualify out without wasting any time responding to these opportunities? Will the responses be sensible or will cowboy responses at crazy prices mean that a quality performance and competitive price is not going to look competitive? For the Public Sector there’s now the problem of trying to identify which of the multitude of respondents can offer genuine good value and demonstrate competence in the performance of the task.
Despite the cuts, the Public Sector spend continues to rise
The Tendering Process for larger Public Sector contracts will still entail the original multi-step process. However, some Public Sector bodies, possibly keen to impress, have installed teams which will help local SMEs to tender and win projects within their jurisdiction. This is very helpful. However, it is rare and indeed would not be prudent for the supplying SME to rely entirely on one Public Sector body to supply them with all their Public Sector projects. They still need to seek, find, tender and win projects with other Public
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