Business News
Bidding process criticised by expert
THE financial expert appointed
by the Government to study ways
of enabling small businesses to
win more public sector work has
described the bidding process as
"lengthy, cumbersome and costly".
Venture capitalist Anne Glover
will examine ways to implement
the target of the public sector
giving 30 per cent of its work to
small and medium-sized enterprises
(SMEs), as outlined by
Chancellor Alistair Darling in
last week's budget.
"Bidding processes are
lengthy, cumbersome and costly
for small businesses," said Ms
Glover, who is also chief executive
of Amadeus Capital Partners.
"There is scope for the public
sector to stretch beyond present
levels of procurement."
Ms Glover said that, while she
believes there is no discrimination
against smaller businesses,
the bidding process often rules
them out of the running.
"This is not at a conscious level
- it is more that the processes
used do not necessarily invite
new entrants."
Her comments came after a
boost for the Buy North-East
campaign, organised by The
Northern Echo and the North-
East Chamber of Commerce
(NECC) to help local authorities
embrace the benefits of awarding
contracts to the region's businesses.
NECC research shows regional
economy would grow by
£1.35bn and an extra 6,000 jobs
would be created if the public
sector spent an extra one per cent
each year until 2016, contracting
services from within the North-
East. National statistics revealed
that only about 16 per cent of
public sector contracts are
awarded to SMEs.
The Buy North-East campaign
was helped last week when the
North-East Centre of Excellence
became the first body in the UK
to unveil documents that councils
in the region must use when
buying from local businesses.
Currently, companies have to
fill in a set of forms for each of
the 25 local authorities from
which they are bidding to win
contracts.
Simplifying the system has
been highlighted as a priority to
enable the North-East economy
to grow.
9:15am Friday 21st March 2008
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