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Getting a slice of the public sector contract cake
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This article provides you with information on how to tender for public sector contracts in the UK. The article provides some interesting facts about the public sector market in the Britain, as well as useful tips on how to approach public sector tenders.
The first thing you need to know is that the public sector is a huge market that suppliers of services and products can ill afford to ignore. In the UK, annual purchasing expenditure of the public sector is estimated at around £450 billion. The public sector employs around 10 million people and its spending accounts for 40% of the gross domestic product (GDP).
Singularly, the central government spends £13 billion on goods and services each year, with the National Health Service being the third largest employer in the world.
So what do you need to do to tender for contracts? This does not come cheap. You need to subscribe to a number of portals and you need to know what is important to public sector organizations when pitching for contracts. Contrary to popular belief, price is just one of many factors the public sector takes account of when determining who to award contracts to. Very often contracts are awarded to businesses that are deemed appropriate and safe choice for the purpose of robust accountability.
Reliability, quality, value for money and safety in the services and products purchased from suppliers are all important factors that public sector organizations take account of when deciding who to award a contract to. For this reason, SMEs are required at the very minimum to meet the following criteria:
- Technical experience and capability
- Corporate policies
- Business probity
- References
So what does all this mean in practice. This simply means that SMEs must demonstrate beyond reasonable doubt that they possess the technical competence and capability to deliver the services or products required in the contract. They must have various corporate policies in place such as equal opportunity, quality assurance, environmental, health and safety. The track record of directors must be impeccable and validated by third parties through the medium of references.
Once you’ve got over this hurdle, there is the next stage of targeting and applying for contracts. Here are a number of tips you need to bear in mind in your approach to tendering for public sector contracts.
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Never waste time with any prospects. If unsuccessful, move on to the next one.
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Always focus your attention on the quality of your products and services. Don’t worry too much over your knowledge of the sector.
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Ensure that you focus on the strengths and core competencies of your business in deciding what contracts you want to tender for.
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In order to be short listed you need to fulfil the entire requirements of the tender or bid documents as requested
Sheila Elliott is the managing director of Business Services Support Limited.
http://www.businessservicessupport.com/
Email: sheila@businessservicessupport.com
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