Enterprise Nation

Enterprise Nation member and tender/procurement specialist, Rachael Ellis, wrote in to tell us she recently attended an event and was overwhelmed with questions on how businesses can tender for - and win - work with the Government. She suggested you, our readers, might like to know all the answers too.

Having the answers

We asked Rachael, who runs home based business Ocurem, to answer the queries we had on this topic of public sector tenders and procurement. 

Are public sector contracts really worth bidding for? I’ve heard you have to have 3 years of accounts, plus environmental and other policies which could place an unwelcome administrative burden on home based businesses?

Most public sector organizations want to see firms (regardless of size and location) to be able to demonstrate the stability, quality and values of the company. In order to do this, most public sector departments ask for copies of your most recent accounts - this doesn’t mean that if you haven’t got 3 years of accounts you won’t be considered. BUT it does have to be relative e.g. if you are bidding for a contract worth £8k and you turnover £41k – you will be considered on financial evaluation criteria. However if you are bidding for a contract worth £8k and your turnover is £11k at the moment, it is likely that the evaluator may consider this to be too big a risk – both for you in terms of cashflow and growth, but also for them as a responsible buyer – what if this contract is placed with you and then after 7 months the project is cancelled? This would leave you in a position of potentially making people redundant whose sole responsibility it is to service the contract. The golden rule is basically – don’t bid for more than 35% of your turnover right now – unless you can demonstrate with great levels of clarity how you can support and manage the contract.

In terms of writing policies etc – public sector bodies need to ensure that the supply is from a legally and ethically sound source. So even if you only write 1 paragraph about how you recycle, re-use and return, then this could constitute an environmental policy. I would also urge EN members to consider putting the advantages to running a business from home – e.g. reduced travel and commuting, plus flexibility – and often with great IT systems which are securely held online – which is also good for the environment, as it’s less paper. Over time you can hone and fine tune your “policy” – but don’t be put off by the fact it’s got to be written down.

If it is worth submitting a tender, how would I go about finding what tenders are in circulation?

For private sector – there is no “one stop shop” – and you will have to persist with some tenacity to the organisations involved directly – which can be time consuming and not always particularly productive. For public sector there are a couple of sites that I will mention to get you started – although there are literally dozens of these sites. But www.supply2.gov.uk  is a key one. This is free to small businesses – including home businesses and you can register to receive “tender alerts” for a certain area – e.g. South Yorkshire. This system is good for an introduction to tendering – but the set up and registration is a little laborious. You will need to be able to supply as much information as possible. Once registered you get a username and login – and you can then set “keywords” for your particular interest. Think about what other connecting words there are, e.g. if you are a landscape gardener – then search for keywords like landscaping, gardening, planting, trees, garden displays, flower gardens, etc – as often the “categories” will be not as obvious as the simple phrases which you use to describe your business.

The other very topical one to mention is www.competefor.com which is the Olympics tendering site. This may be of interest to EN members, as when all the very large companies win work, often they have to then sub contract a percentage to smaller businesses – some contracts stipulate 20% has to be subcontracted – and the large companies are allowed to use compete for as the way to source the smaller companies. You mustn’t think that the Olympics is years away and all based in London – this is simply untrue.

You register – and add all your documents to the compete for website at the start – and then this is much more simple – and you then submit an “Expression Of Interest” if you would like to submit a bid.

How do you help companies wanting to bid for public sector contracts?

Ocurem work with companies to help them get their message across – we recently worked with a small graphic design company with 4 employees to be shortlisted for an Olympic tender. Afterwards we were told that 424 companies had expressed an interest, and they were in the final 3 shortlisted. That’s where Ocurem really works its magic – identifying the strengths of companies and working with them to get this message across within a tender, quickly, truthfully and memorably.

Is there anything else we should know about the highs and lows of applying to win work from the Government?

Firstly – be prepared for quite a long decision making time. In Public Sector it is not uncommon for a period of 6-12 weeks to pass whilst they are determining and evaluating the bids, as they receive so many. This is why the automation of E-submissions has made it easier for them, but is also makes it easier for more firms to apply.

Secondly – don’t be put off if you don’t succeed – always ask for feedback, about how you could improve for next time. Good luck!

Rachael Ellis, Ocurem Ltd

• Ocurem