Procurement Opportunities

1
Procurement Opportunities

• Caroline Plane
• West Sussex SEN Event
• 24th March 2009

2
Setting the Scene

• Public sector moving from grant funding to
  commissioning and contracting

3
The Changing Climate
4
About Social Enterprise

• Successful social enterprises can play an
  important role in helping deliver on many of the
  Government's key policy objectives by
• Helping to drive up productivity and
  competitiveness
• Contributing to socially inclusive wealth
  creation
• Enabling individuals and communities to work
  towards regenerating their local neighbourhoods
• Showing new ways to deliver public services.

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The Public Sector Exploring Options

• 500 Local Authorities in England Wales
• 334 UK Universities
• 24,000 State Independent Primary Schools
• 3,500 Secondary Schools
• 303 NHS Trusts
• 4500 Housing associations/RSLs
• 42 Police Services
• 39 Ambulance Services
• 58 Fire Services
• 25 Government Departments (Agencies attached MOD
  28)
• ? http//www.tagish.co.uk/
• ? http//www.schoolsdirectory.co.uk/
• ? http//www.housingnet.co.uk/

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Accessing Opportunities

• Low Value
• Below 100k
• Local purchasing rules apply
• Formability of process increases with contract
  value.
• High Value
• Above 100k
• EU procurement rules may apply
• Formal tendering procedures
• Framework agreements

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Accessing Opportunities

• Myriad of websites and portals
• High value contracts easy to find (harder to win)
• Lower value opportunities harder to find (easiest
  to win).
• Less transparency in the commercial sector.

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Accessing Opportunities

• On-line
• Supplier Portals
• Supply 2 Gov / Sell2Wales
• CompeteFor
• Tenders Electronic Daily
• Sector Specific e.g. PASA, Tenders.ac.uk
• Selling to Council / Contracting Authority Web
  Pages
• www.wssen.org.uk - links to Local Authorities and
  NHS procurement sites
• Meet the Buyer Events
• http//www.meetthebuyers.com/
• Also dont forget
• Local press, trade press, press releases
• Phoning and Asking Relationship Marketing
• Finding the right contact

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Accessing Local Opportunities

• West Sussex County Council currently spends
  approximately 300 million annually on a wide
  range of goods and services.
• Approved supplier lists in place across West
  Sussex including
• Adur District Council
• Arun District Council
• Chichester District Council
• Crawley Borough Council
• Horsham District Council
• Mid Sussex District Council
• Worthing Borough Council

• Guidance available on how to access business
  opportunities with the councils within West
  Sussex
• Outlines the rules and regulations that each
  council must follow.
• Explains how to bid for council work.

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Accessing Local Opportunities

• South East Business Portal (SEBP)
• Portal designed to allow the sharing of
  information about tendering opportunities across
  74 councils and 9 fire rescue services across
  the south east region.
• The 74 councils collectively spend between 4bn
  and 4.5bn each year on bought in goods and
  services.
• Suppliers can view and express interest in
  opportunities to supply goods and services.
• Free to use regardless of the areas you wish to
  cover.

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Recent Opportunities (South East)

• West Sussex County Council
• Health and social work services.
• Services provided by youth associations.
• Catering Service Concession for new Horsham
  Offices.
• Supply of temporary staff.
• Northbrook College Sussex School Cleaning
  Services.
• University of Brighton Construction work
• Hastings Borough Council Cash cheque
  collection contract.
• Guildford Borough Council Web Design Services
• Woking Borough Council Pest-control services.
• Slough Borough Council Supply of Catering.
• Oxford County Council Provision of 14-19
  Educational Consultancy.

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Tiered Supply Chains

• Where do you fit into the supply chain?

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Collaborative Bidding

• Options
• Subcontractor
• Joint Bidding
• Delivery Partner
• Consortium
• Pros and Cons to each approach
• Brand Identity
• Cost
• Reliability
• Sharing sensitive information
• Risk

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Summary

• Social enterprises can play an important role in
  delivering public services.
• Public sector moving from grant funding to
  commissioning and contracting.
• Small contracts can still be up to 140k in
  value.
• Paradox in relation to finding out about
  opportunities.
• Commissions below the thresholds can often be
  secured with quotations and proposals.
• Opportunities throughout the supply chain.
• Larger Opportunities and 2nd Tier Opportunities
  can be found using the TED website
• Remember there is no substitute for
• Phoning and asking
• Finding the right contact
• Relationship marketing

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Any Questions?