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Bidding process criticised by expert
Thu 22nd Jan 2009, 10:22am
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.