TD Admin
Tim Williams
Diane Callaghan
Sandra Hatfield
MP’s have been urging local authorities and other public sector bodies to support local farmers and source their food within the UK. I can only assume this is for contracts under the EU procurement thresholds, otherwise how can public sector bodies award £2 billion worth of food contracts just within the UK? When I initially started this article I agreed, why shouldn’t we get to eat nutritious, carbon friendly, local food? Why shouldn’t the UK get to support their local farmers? It is public money, right? It is not quite that simple, local food may not always be the cheaper or most environmentally friendly option. DEFRA has told us a million times, it is more sustainable to grow and import a tomato from Spain than it is to grow one here in the UK.
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Archive for November, 2009
Food Procurement – buy local or buy cheap?
Posted by Hailey Thomson on November 16, 2009
Posted in Politics of Procurement | Tagged: Carbon Footprint, EU Laws, Food Contracts, Food Miles, food procurement, Green Procurement, Local Food, Nick Herbert, Sustainable Food, Sustainable Procurement | 1 Comment »
European eGovernment Awards 2009
Posted by Tim Williams on November 16, 2009
Minister of State for the Cabinet Office, Angela Smith
We are just making the final preparations for our participation in the European eGovernment Awards 2009, which are being held to coincide with the 5th Ministerial eGovernment Conference in Malmö, Sweden on 19th/20th November.
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Posted in General Procurement | Tagged: egovernment, Malmö, procurement, Public contracts, public sector | Leave a Comment »
Does Size Matter? SMEs in Public Sector Procurement
Posted by Diane Callaghan on November 9, 2009
The public sector is a potentially lucrative source of business, as the UK spends about £222 billion a year on procurement. There are also certain advantages to working with public sector organisations; they are required by EU law to be transparent and fair in the way they choose suppliers, they are very stable and reputable, and usually make prompt payments.
Posted in General Procurement | Tagged: Best Practice, business, Consortia Bids, Contracts, Glover Report, PIN, PQQ, procurement, Public contracts, public sector, SME, Sub-contracting, suppliers, tender, Tender Notice, track record | Leave a Comment »
Which OJEU contracts should I bid for?
Posted by Jill Watson on November 4, 2009
Let’s start with this essential piece of advice:
Do not make the mistake of going after every tender!
It can be appealing to start off on this footing when you see a flood of tender notices coming through, all of which apparently match your business area. But are you remembering how high bidding costs can be and have you really thought about your chances of winning? Companies who bid for everything are not normally the most successful. Bidding on the wrong contract can be a waste of resources if you have no chance of winning so you need to think about things a bit more strategically and start targeting specific opportunities to make the most of your time and resources. Don’t just enter to make up the numbers.
Posted in Tender Tips | Tagged: bid, OJEU, Public contracts, tender, track record | Leave a Comment »
