Small firms urged to sign up for government contracts

Small firms across the UK are being urged to sign up to the government’s Supply2.gov.uk website and to take advantage of the thousands of government contracts available. More than 123,000 companies have already signed up to the website, which provides an up to the minute database of government contracts for small businesses wishing to supply to the public sector. Suppliers who have signed up to the site receive advice on how best to access government contracts and a free daily email alert notifying them of new opportunities that are relevant to their business. Secretary of State Lord Mandelson said: “Every year the government spends many billions of pounds on public sector contracts. It is vital that we actively help small and medium sized companies take advantage of these business opportunities. In the current economic climate this is more important than ever. The supply.2gov.uk website is a crucial tool for this. “SMEs often have smaller overheads, local knowledge and great flexibility. Often they can offer the public sector better value for money than big business”. Supply2.gov.uk Marketing Brand Manager Fiona Campbell said: "A recent refresh to the Supply2.gov.uk website in November 2008 has ensured the site is a more user friendly platform where registrants can benefit from increased information and better navigation. “A key feature of the service, such as the Daily Email Alert profile, allows suppliers to match their contract search results exactly with their business requirements. Additional resources and information on interoperability relationships have also become more prominent on the site in order to further enhance the contract notification service."

Agree that the supply2 web site isn't user friendly but still handy to get the basic details of organisations and their requirements. This way you can Email them direct asking for any procurement opportunities in your relevant field.

I would like to think that due to the current financial climate government bodies would give the small businesses a fair chance and not put up so many barriers that have held us down in the past. Hopefully they are not just paying lip service. Time will tell.

With regards to completing tenders, whilst they can be time consuming and most of us wouldn’t have too much of a chance getting the contact (as the award ratings tend to be weighted in favour of previously experience of similar contracts / size etc.) it is still a worthwhile exercise as you never know you may just pull it off. Failing that it will also help get your name in front of the people making the decisions and at some point in the future they may require your services.

Don't forget that most council have a policy in place where they can award small contracts (I believe up to £50K) without the need to formally issue a tender document. I would strongly recommend getting on your local council list of approved contractors.

Replies

Big Dig Groundworks February 5, 2009 at 4:40pm

I have been told about this website and think it is the same sort of thing http://www.mytenders.com
Lawncare-4u.co.uk February 12, 2009 at 11:02am

£99.00
il have a look now some guy phoned me 3 times from brighton? this week ...............................whats criteria , why should we pay?
cant we just phone council and arrange it if we have skills,insurance and certificates ,machinary etc,??
Graeme @ BGS February 12, 2009 at 12:51pm

Agree that the supply2 web site isn't user friendly but still handy to get the basic details of organisations and their requirements. This way you can Email them direct asking for any procurement opportunities in your relevant field.

I would like to think that due to the current financial climate government bodies would give the small businesses a fair chance and not put up so many barriers that have held us down in the past. Hopefully they are not just paying lip service. Time will tell.

With regards to completing tenders, whilst they can be time consuming and most of us wouldn’t have too much of a chance getting the contact (as the award ratings tend to be weighted in favour of previously experience of similar contracts / size etc.) it is still a worthwhile exercise as you never know you may just pull it off. Failing that it will also help get your name in front of the people making the decisions and at some point in the future they may require your services.

Don't forget that most council have a policy in place where they can award small contracts (I believe up to £50K) without the need to formally issue a tender document. I would strongly recommend getting on your local council list of approved contractors.
Graeme @ BGS February 12, 2009 at 3:03pm

I hopefully don't seem to have the same issues with the supply2 website. I signed up a year or two ago and get daily alerts. Only have to do a bit of searching for the ones outside of my primary area that I selected when I signed up. If I wanted more areas then I would have to pay for it but still get suffficient detail to usually find out who issued the request.

Have you considered dropping an Email to one of the councillors or a quick phone call? I had a couple of occasions which warrented a chat to my local councillor one of which was work related and it is amazing how fast they can be!!