Posted on 30-05-2011 at 08;00
Tender writing makes a comeback
Following the general election and the announcement of public sector cuts there was a general feeling that things were going to be tough for private companies supplying to the government. It seemed that tender writing could become a thing of the past as there would be no bids to write!
According to a report in the Financial Times, the change in government resulted in 20% fewer contracts put out to tender by local authorities and central government in comparison to the previous year. The same report goes on to say that procurement by public bodies has now almost fully recovered to pre-election levels.
Health and education tenders are being issued faster and demand for services related to transport and environmental related services is rising the fastest. (This is based on volume and not value.)
It appears that the Cabinet Office has been exerting some influence on some government departments to begin to issue PQQ and tenders. For us as tender bid writers, this is a good thing. For the private industry it is even better.
One of the main items of discussion these days is the influence and impact that government plans for the Big Society will have on these tenders. The general consensus seems to be- very little. Charities and Social Enterprises lack the scale to deliver large government contracts and are unable to bear the risk if things do not go according to plan (according to the report). The idea of involving charities is an attractive one, but the general feeling is that it will be some time, if ever, before we see large tenders being successfully won by charities or social enterprises. However, according to research, £9.1bn in contracts was awarded to charities last year which compares to a measly £7.8bn in 06/07, so it would appear that the level is increasing.
The bottom line is that charities and voluntary organisations very often lack the experience and efficiency to effectively deliver services. While they tick a number of societal benefit boxes, they cannot always demonstrate efficiency in terms of service delivery or effectiveness in addressing operational problems in innovative ways. It is no good promising a range of local opportunities and social programmes if you simply do not have the hard cash or operational nous to deliver your promised outcomes.
The ability to write tenders that win contracts may also hamper them. Like many great organisations, charities tend to have a problem translating what they are really good at, into the written word. It will be interesting to monitor both the volume of tender issued and the number of charities who are successful. Either way, in the short term it looks like the number of tender bids is going to increase.
According to a report in the Financial Times, the change in government resulted in 20% fewer contracts put out to tender by local authorities and central government in comparison to the previous year. The same report goes on to say that procurement by public bodies has now almost fully recovered to pre-election levels.
Health and education tenders are being issued faster and demand for services related to transport and environmental related services is rising the fastest. (This is based on volume and not value.)
It appears that the Cabinet Office has been exerting some influence on some government departments to begin to issue PQQ and tenders. For us as tender bid writers, this is a good thing. For the private industry it is even better.
One of the main items of discussion these days is the influence and impact that government plans for the Big Society will have on these tenders. The general consensus seems to be- very little. Charities and Social Enterprises lack the scale to deliver large government contracts and are unable to bear the risk if things do not go according to plan (according to the report). The idea of involving charities is an attractive one, but the general feeling is that it will be some time, if ever, before we see large tenders being successfully won by charities or social enterprises. However, according to research, £9.1bn in contracts was awarded to charities last year which compares to a measly £7.8bn in 06/07, so it would appear that the level is increasing.
The bottom line is that charities and voluntary organisations very often lack the experience and efficiency to effectively deliver services. While they tick a number of societal benefit boxes, they cannot always demonstrate efficiency in terms of service delivery or effectiveness in addressing operational problems in innovative ways. It is no good promising a range of local opportunities and social programmes if you simply do not have the hard cash or operational nous to deliver your promised outcomes.
The ability to write tenders that win contracts may also hamper them. Like many great organisations, charities tend to have a problem translating what they are really good at, into the written word. It will be interesting to monitor both the volume of tender issued and the number of charities who are successful. Either way, in the short term it looks like the number of tender bids is going to increase.
