Originally written by Melanie Bryan on Small Business
Demystifying public sector tendering
Would you like an introduction to a client who:
Spends around £284bn each year on goods and services?
Issues around 1,500 new contract opportunities each week?
Pays on time and won’t go bust?
Wants SMEs to be suppliers – awards around 59 per cent of contracts by value to small businesses?
Well, the good news is that you can – that client is the public sector. No wonder Lord Young named the public sector as the client to target for micro-businesses that want to grow.
Winning public sector contracts can also help stabilise your cashflow. For example, contracts for services are usually for at least a year and most small suppliers get paid within 30 days of submitting an accurate invoice and many are paid within 14 days.
And remember that public sector is quite wide; for example, it includes government, local authorities, NHS, police and fire services. There are also several other organisations who use similar procurement processes including universities, construction, and utility companies.
What’s more the public sector recognises that SMEs can offer better value, higher quality service, greater flexibility and can be more innovative than larger companies. Therefore it wants more to become suppliers and