Posted on 21-02-2011 at 01:00
A new route to opportunities for tender seekers?
Supply2gov.co.uk opened to great fanfare in 2006 and yet it was recently announced that it is to be closed down and replaced with the new Contracts Finder, widely trumpeted by the new Government as being the answer to the problem of getting SMEs involved in supplying to Central Government. Supply2Gov’s last day will March 31st 2011 and by the following day, Contracts Finder will be the portal for small businesses to secure Government tenders over £10,000 and under £100,000. Hosted by Business Link, Contracts Finder comes as part of the wider Transparency Agenda and aims to make all opportunities and contract documents available to SMEs in one, simple to use portal.
Whilst Supply2Gov used to charge an annual £180 fee to small businesses, this was removed in 2009 as it was found that the fee was deterring small businesses from joining up and seeking out opportunities. So if Supply2Gov was recently free, and Contracts Finder is being marketed as free, what is the difference between the two?
One of the issues with the Supply2Gov portal was that it wasn’t the only portal and this caused confusion amongst service users. In addition, whilst searching and registering may have been free after 2009, users were obliged to subscribe for simple services such as email alerts, which are all free through Contracts Finder. Many small business owners were not interested in paying to see multitudes of unsuitable opportunities and were unwilling to pay for information that was available elsewhere in the public domain, albeit in a less user friendly format.
Whilst Contracts Finder is unlikely to be the only available portal in the short term, it will be the official one and will contain all the useful information you would find on other portals such as those in devolved areas. This will be achieved by data linking in to all existing portals, including regional ones, existing e-tendering systems and TED.
The seemingly obvious answer is that the Supply2Gov website should be modified to provide the service that the new Contracts Finder will provide, thus removing the need for yet another new system and all of the advertising and PR that must go with it. However, that would require the Supply2Gov contract being renewed and modified whilst Contract Finder went to competitive tender and thus should be better designed for purpose (and, hopefully, cheaper). Whether the contract to provide Contracts Finder was awarded to an SME or not remains to be seen.
Click here for more information on writing a tender
Whilst Supply2Gov used to charge an annual £180 fee to small businesses, this was removed in 2009 as it was found that the fee was deterring small businesses from joining up and seeking out opportunities. So if Supply2Gov was recently free, and Contracts Finder is being marketed as free, what is the difference between the two?
One of the issues with the Supply2Gov portal was that it wasn’t the only portal and this caused confusion amongst service users. In addition, whilst searching and registering may have been free after 2009, users were obliged to subscribe for simple services such as email alerts, which are all free through Contracts Finder. Many small business owners were not interested in paying to see multitudes of unsuitable opportunities and were unwilling to pay for information that was available elsewhere in the public domain, albeit in a less user friendly format.
Whilst Contracts Finder is unlikely to be the only available portal in the short term, it will be the official one and will contain all the useful information you would find on other portals such as those in devolved areas. This will be achieved by data linking in to all existing portals, including regional ones, existing e-tendering systems and TED.
The seemingly obvious answer is that the Supply2Gov website should be modified to provide the service that the new Contracts Finder will provide, thus removing the need for yet another new system and all of the advertising and PR that must go with it. However, that would require the Supply2Gov contract being renewed and modified whilst Contract Finder went to competitive tender and thus should be better designed for purpose (and, hopefully, cheaper). Whether the contract to provide Contracts Finder was awarded to an SME or not remains to be seen.
Click here for more information on writing a tender
