Speaking at a summit meeting for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) on Friday, prime minister David Cameron and cabinet office minister Francis Maude announced that the government would be putting in place a raft of measures to improve the procurement process for contractors, particularly SME firms.
Key points include removing the need for PQQs for departmental contracts valued at less than £100,000, creating a single portal for all procurement opportunities; and recommendations for dramatically reducing the cost and time taken to carry out competitive dialogue procedures.
The Civil Engineering Contractors Association has targeted reform of procurement as a key focus in 2011 and for this reason it welcomed the announcement. CECA director of external affairs Alasdair Reisner said: “While CECA has long highlighted the inefficiencies created by poor procurement of construction, earlier efforts at reform in this area have failed to achieve real change. As such we are pleased that the drive to reform public sector procurement has backing from right at the top of government”.
But contractors are concerned that, in trying to reduce the prequalification burden on small companies, the government may actually be piling on additional cost.
Mr Reisner continued: “For many years CECA has campaigned to reduce the burden unnecessary prequalification places on contractors, who are forced to waste time and resources filling in a range of different prequalification questionnaires in order to bid for contracts.
“Today’s announcement suggests at least a partial victory in that campaign, lifting this burden for companies bidding for many small contracts.
“However we are concerned that the complete removal of prequalification will turn bidding for such work into a free-for-all. Under such circumstance all bidders would have to expend considerable resources preparing full bids, rather than those who have no chance of winning being weeded out at an early stage. Clearly this situation threatens to increase, rather than decrease the burden on small firms.
“For this reason CECA is in favour of standardisation of - rather than removal of - prequalification. Contractors should be able to complete a single standardised prequalification questionnaire, which can then be used by clients to determine whether they are suitable to bid for a given contract.”
Measures announced by the prime minister to help SMEs win government contracts include:
- The launch of a Contracts Finder website. The online facility will become the place to find public sector contracting opportunities over £10,000 and will make the government’s procurement process transparent.
- The appointment of Stephen Allott as a new crown commercial representative (CCR) for SMEs, to speak for smaller suppliers.
- The launch of SME product surgeries. These events will be led by the new CCR and will give SMEs the opportunity to pitch products and services to a panel of government procurement officers.
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A new approach to assessing organisations that want to do business with government, so that SMEs are not disadvantaged including:
- Seeking to eliminate PQQs for all central government contracts under £100,000.
- Allowing firms to submit their prequalification data once for all procurements in common commodities. This will put an end to companies having to submit the same data time and time again, saving time and money for the suppliers and for government.
- The launch of a Contracts Finder website. The new online facility, which is available from today, will become the place to find public sector contracting opportunities over £10,000 and will make the Government’s procurement process totally transparent. From now on, all organisations need to do is to specify which contracts they are interested in and details will be emailed free of charge.
- The appointment of Stephen Allott as a new Crown Commercial Representative (CCR) for SMEs. His task will be to build a more strategic dialogue between HM Government and smaller suppliers – giving those suppliers a strong voice at the top table.
- The launch of SME (Small Medium Enterprise) product surgeries. These events will be led by the new CCR and will give SMEs the opportunity to pitch innovative products and services direct to a panel of senior procurement and operational professionals from central government and the wider public sector.
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A completely new approach to assessing companies and organisations who want to do business with Government, so that SMEs are not disadvantaged including:
- Seeking to eliminate PQQs (Pre-Qualification Questionnaires) for all central government procurements under £100,000. This represents a radical change in the way pre-qualification is carried out and means that from now on procurers will be free to choose the best route to market for their individual circumstances.
- Allowing firms to submit their prequalification data once for all procurements in common commodities. This will put an end to companies having to submit the same data time and time again, saving time and money for the suppliers and for government.
- Publication of the findings of the Cabinet Office’s LEAN Review into procurement processes. This will show the Government is doing all it can to reduce waste, tackle bureaucracy and lower the cost of doing business with government.
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