‘Opportunity knocks’ for those selling to government

For those who are used to cold calling and the cut and thrust of selling in the private sector, selling to government has often been seen as a difficult affair of following and filling in the paper chain only to lose out in the end.

Earlier this year the Office of Government Commerce (OGC) and the Small Business Service (SBS) announced details of a new national web portal that would provide millions of businesses with direct access to central and local government opportunities.

It is anticipated that the portal will be particularly popular with many of the 3.5 million small- and medium-sized businesses that often find it difficult to sell to government. Trials have already been carried out in the West Midlands region and the other the London Borough of Haringey, with a basic web portal set up for government buyers to advertise low-value contracts, which made opportunities more accessible to smaller businesses.

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Free training workshops have also been run for over 300 small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), as well as internal training programmes for government buyers on the benefits of using smaller businesses. You will be happy to hear that a simplified tender document was also tested and introduced during the trial that significantly reduces the bureaucracy involved in the tender process.

In a recent press release, Chief Secretary to the Treasury Paul Boaten said: ‘I am delighted that the potential advantages identified by the West Midlands and Haringey pilots have contributed to the process of breaking down the barriers facing SMEs when trying to do business with government.

‘The practical help and advice that the pilots developed can now be rolled out nationally, proving that the pilots were not just a one-off project, but part of the government’s continued commitment to helping SMEs to access the public sector marketplace.’

Keith Grinstead, an independent consultant, has been working with local authorities and local companies to establish electronic trading: “It has not been as straight forward as you would think. One of the biggest issues we have come across is that the smaller local companies often haven’t even got email and therefore are unable to take advantage of these opportunities”, he says.

There are around 3.75 million small- to medium-sized businesses in the UK, of which 1.5 million are sole traders. This represents around 99% of UK businesses and, at the start of 2000, the sector accounted for 50% of UK turnover.

The public sector accounts for 40% of the UK’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and central civil government alone spends £13 billion per year on goods and services. This new move could mean that more of this spend could be finding its way to you.

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