All this week, Tenders Direct is running an ‘SME week’ to raise awareness for smaller suppliers about the advantages of working in the public sector.

Tenders Direct shared 35,436 UK and Irish low value tender opportunities in 2016, so what are the benefits for SMEs to working in the public sector?

The value in the public sector

The UK public sector has opportunities for all sizes of suppliers: low value tenders can total up to £106,047 and high value tenders can be anything from the latter and into the millions.

See below four reasons why SMEs should consider work in the public sector:

1. Public spend: In the fiscal year ending in 2017, total UK public spending is expected to be £784.1 billion* meaning there are many business opportunities to take advantage of.
2. Prompt payment: according to new data from the CCS, public sector buyers aim to pay all invoices within 30 days, with the majority paid within five.
3. UK Government targets: The government aims to award 25% of public procurement contracts to SMEs.**
4. Value for money – government buyers have to be transparent with the taxpayer money and have to show how they have delivered this. SMEs won’t be compromised by a larger company if they have a better value proposition than them.

Where are the opportunities?

Tenders Direct can help you be more successful in the public sector by allowing you to spend less time looking, and more time bidding for work by delivering tender notifications right into your mailbox.

Bring home more contract wins

With a team of ex-bid writers and reviewers, Millstream Training and Consultancy have supplier training which can help accelerate your bid response from good to great. Our introductory and advanced courses are continually updated to reflect any changes in procurement legislation, not to mention trends which buyers are looking out for. Visit our website to find out more about the training we offer.

With UK government targets, prompt payment, low value tender opportunities and tendering training for SMEs to take advantage of, SMEs are welcome in the public sector: there is a lucrative source of business opportunities waiting for smaller suppliers over on Tenders Direct.

* ukpublicspending.co.uk

** National Audit Office 2016

The Social Value Act came out as legislation from 2012 and has recently hit the headlines again via the Crown Commercial Service.

The act concerns the benefits you, as a supplier, can bring to a public sector contract to improve the local area you are working in. This can be in many different forms such as providing apprenticeships, working on charitable projects or supporting local enterprise development.

From now on, social value is now becoming a weighted part of the evaluation criteria in tendering: what was originally 60% price and 40% quality will more than likely now be moving to 50% price 40% quality and 10% on social value. In fact social value might make up to 20% of the evaluation criteria as has been noted in the strategic approach of local councils such as Knowsley and Manchester.

Suppliers will also have to effectively manage and monitor their social value activity to prove the promises listed in their tender documents come to fruition.

How do you prepare for social value evaluation?

1. Understand the concept: Some suppliers fall into the trap of thinking they can shoehorn their existing environmental and sustainability actions to fit and this will rarely prove effective. Read these examples from the Crown Commercial Service to gain an insight into social value in practice
2. Engage with your key buyers: Ask direct questions pre-procurement such as ‘What are your important areas of work in social value?’ You might find synergies between buyers and your company ethos.
3. Look at your work: Sometimes suppliers may be fulfilling the social value criteria but don’t record it or recognise it. For example: Do you employ locally? Support local suppliers in the supply chain? Offer apprenticeships? Do any community or charity work?
4. Look at gaps and practicalities of implementing new processes: Suppliers need to fill in any gaps they have in social value activities. But, think through the implications of any additional social value measures you might want to put in place. For example, offering apprenticeships will affect your HR team, line managers and the wage bill.
5. Document it: Your social value activities are only as valuable as your ability to prove you have done them and that they have been effective. You need to have case studies, data and statistics to quote in your tenders to demonstrate that you have done what you said you would and that it has made a positive impact socially.

Here are some additional sources of info on The Social Value Act:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/social-value-act-information-and-resources/social-value-act-information-and-resources

http://inspiringimpact.org/

https://socialvalueportal.com/social-value-taskforce/

http://www.socialvaluehub.org.uk/

If you require any further support or guidance leave us a comment or get in touch 01224 650 772 or email gemma@millstream.eu

On Monday of this week the Crown Commercial Service (CCS) released a Public Policy Note (PPN) on ‘Onerous Practices in Procurement and Contracting’. Put simply they are referring to procurement practices which place far too much risk on the supplier. This in

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Back in June, the Competition & Markets Authority (CMA) published an open letter to procurement professionals announcing new guidance and learning resources designed to help combat collusion between suppliers bidding for public contracts. Along with a text summary, the new resources include an e-learning module and some admirably accessible and informative animated videos. Unsurprisingly, this development in the battle against illegal anti-competitive practices received a warm reception in procurement circles, with the Chartered Institute of Procurement and Supply and the Local Government Association making the resources available to their members. This move can be seen as a small but positive step forward in efforts to protect the public sector’s reputation as a fair and transparent place to do business and should be applauded.

We last touched on this subject in 2009 following a round of fines imposed by the Office of Fair Trading (superseded in 2014 by the CMA) on over one hundred construction firms found to be guilty of bid rigging. The size and stature of many of the companies involved was surprising: not so much dodgy purveyors of rickety garage conversions, more a who’s who of premier league construction companies. Some in the industry expressed concern over potential job losses resulting from the fines, but we felt that these sanctions were not overly punitive when framed as a percentage of turnover. Indeed, some of the firms had their fines reduced substantially under the CMA’s leniency policy in return for confessing when first confronted.  Read the rest of this entry »

The Scottish Government launched its new public procurement guidance to promote fair work practices last October. Now that we are almost three quarters of the way through 2016, are you familiar with the new guidance yet? Read the rest of this entry »

Does your company provide products or services for healthcare services? If so, you should have more opportunities for bidding on public sector healthcare contracts.

Having analysed the volume of opportunities distributed by our Tenders Direct service we have found a 17% increase in public sector healthcare procurement contracts published in the last 12 months compared to the previous 12. This marks a third consecutive year the number of healthcare tenders has increased on the previous year.

A rise in outsourcing public health services, such as dermatology, ophthalmology and dental care, has contributed towards this increase.

The volume of tenders within community and out-patient healthcare has grown significantly. In particular, we’ve seen a 23% increase in the category for home care, sheltered housing, domiciliary care, day care, community care, respite care, end of life care.

So, why have we seen this increase?

In the public sector, there’s an encouraging trend for proactive healthcare such as a notable increase in tenders associated with ‘The Healthy Child Programme’ – the government’s early intervention and prevention public health programme. Tenders for NHS Health Checks and mental health services have also seen growth.

These trends go hand-in-hand with calls for improved cost and operational efficiencies within the healthcare sector. Earlier this year in his review of NHS England Trusts Lord Carter made fifteen recommendations on improving efficiency through better management of resources, transparency and streamlining services.

NHS Trusts in England are tasked with making £1 billion of savings specifically related to procurement, and it is therefore unsurprising that this process is becoming increasingly digital through eProcurement.

Thirty to thirty-five per cent of total NHS spending is on procurement so it’s important that efficiencies are made where they will have most impact.

We’ve seen first-hand how clarity and simplicity accelerates the procurement process and brings added transparency. This is critical in delivering the efficiencies set-out in the Carter Report but also drive further growth in private sector industries.

Have these increases in opportunities had a positive effect on your business? Please feel free to comment below.

If your organisation buys or sells healthcare products or services in the public sector or if you’d like advice on developing your tendering skills to win new contracts, visit our portals:

After drawing Wales in the Euro 2016 office sweepstake a few weeks ago, I may have inadvertently given the impression to my colleagues that I was in some way not utterly ecstatic at the outcome. I now accept that my use of various profanities and the term “unmitigated disaster” may have misconstrued my true feelings on the subject. I am happy to clarify that I have always had the utmost confidence in the Welsh national team, fully expected them to make it to the semi-finals as a minimum and consider it a privilege to have invested £2.00 in their endeavour to stay in Europe (albeit for football and binge drinking only).

Although Millstream specialises in public procurement rather than football punditry, we have been impressed by the interest shown by some attendees of the tournament in our area of expertise: it was particularly gratifying to see a fringe element of Remain supporting England fans attempting to stimulate French public sector expenditure by facilitating massive overtime payments to the Gendarmes and street sweepers of Marseilles and Lille. Faced with a wave of criticism after the abject humiliation of his team of spoilt divas being defeated by plucky Icelandic amateurs, England manager Roy Hodgson reluctantly agreed to face the media despite being privately encouraged by Boris Johnson to follow his lead by abdicating all responsibility for the outcome.

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