Procurement

Opening up tendering processes to small firms ensures that the Government and its agencies achieve value for money for the taxpayer. Small firms are frequently unable to access public sector contracts for various reasons, including contracts being bundled together, difficulty in finding out about supply and time-consuming pre-qualification processes. Public sector contracts sometimes also require unnecessary information and experience of processes, as well as having to deal with poorly structured and unclear briefs.

Our position

We are pushing for a culture change across government that will see a move away from the risk-averse culture which currently exists and leads the procurer to favour larger companies and those it already knows.

We believe that:

The list of tendering criteria a small firm must reach should be reduced.
Contracts should be advertised centrally and free of charge.
Pre-qualification criteria must be clear and not unduly burdensome. If a company is shortlisted, only then should it be expected to provide further details.
An effective complaints procedure should be in place to ensure departments which do not fairly follow tendering processes are brought to account.

We would also like to see much more transparent processes put in place. Some tenders have been known to include unusual requirements which would indicate the contractor has already been found.

Latest developments

We have welcomed the Government's announcement that it will provide free access to all contracts worth up to £100,000. This will take place immediately from 7 August 2009 via www.supply2gov.uk.
We are working with the Office of Government Commerce (OGC) to ensure that the improvements suggested by the Glover Review are implemented in order to help small businesses access public sector contracts.
We provided members' input into the Government's 'Glover Review', a review of procurement processes, and are lobbying to ensure measures to improve SME access are implemented as soon as possible.
We provided member case studies to an All-party Parliamentary Small Business Group (APPSBG) enquiry into public procurement.
The Office of Government Contracts (OGC) issued new guidance on 17 April 2009 to include apprenticeships and training in procurement processes.

Latest research

In March 2009, 17% of our members said they wanted to see access to public sector contracts improved in order to support their businesses (Referendum 187).
In September 2008, 10% of our members cited public sector procurement as a barrier to developing their businesses. 11% of members wanted the Government to improve public procurement as part of the Pre-Budget Report (Referendum 185).