Smaller Businesses Winning Public Sector Contracts

From Suppliers Manual

According to the Prime Minister, only 5 - 10% of the £175bn worth of public sector contracts are secured by small to medium sized enterprises (SMEs). [1]

The Federation of Small Businesses (FSB) had welcomed the government’s commitment to overhaul the way in which small businesses will be able to compete for public sector contracts by being more open and transparent. [2]

In order to encourage greater participation from SME’s, David Cameron confirmed that some large contracts could be divided into smaller deals. [3]

Although some small companies may find it difficult, public sector contracts often offer some very lucrative awards and give stability to the supplier as there are many long-term agreements and the money is budgeted year-on-year in the public sector.

70% of SME’s rarely bid for public sector contracts due to lack of awareness, yet suppliers may just need to know where to look for such opportunities. Public Sector tenders may be advertised on various websites or in journals, and by signing up to a Tender Notification Service.

Within a tender there is often a Pre-Qualification Questionnaire (PQQ) to fill in. This is to see if the supplier is eligible to bid for the contract and meets the initial requirements. If the scoring criteria is unclear, suppliers are permitted to ask clarification from the buyer.

Writing a successful tender is still possible for a small business. Thoroughly researching the score criteria and then giving in-depth information in these key areas may enhance your tender submission.

As the public sector uses the public purse, government guidance ensures that value for money is a factor in awarding a tender so a contract will not just be awarded on price alone. Badges of credibility such as health and safety, insurance levels and in-house policies and procedures may hold a lot of weight in the assessment process.

Even if a supplier produces an unsuccessful tender submission they are still entitled to feed back. This should be requested as it is an extremely useful tool which may assist with improving future tender submissions. [4]