4 actions you can take during Covid-19 to ensure you are ready to respond to public sector tendering opportunities
Where are we now?
Looking through the procurement portals there is a reduction in the number of opportunities being advertised. This is to be expected. On the flip side I’m not sure that would-be suppliers have been in a position to respond to opportunities. There are a few reasons for this:
Shock at the situation we are in – both business wise and on a personal level
Unsure of how to sustain current business never mind even thinking about growing the business
Key staff being furloughed.
What is the government policy?
In March both the UK Government and Scottish Government published policy notes (and have published subsequent policy notes). The key points of these were that public bodies can:
Direct award due to extreme urgency – where they need to purchase something quickly. PPE is a good example of where this has been the case.
Direct award due to absence of competition or protection of exclusive rights – where there are few suppliers who can provide the products the public sector needs to buy.
Call off from an existing framework agreement or dynamic purchasing system – where the public body have or can access an existing framework or dynamic purchasing system (dps) they can purchase from this.
Call for competition using a standard procedure with accelerated timescales – normally tenders are published with a deadline of 20 working days for response. There are times this timescale can be reduced. Public bodies can accelerate the process meaning tenders can be published with a 10 day or 14 day deadline.
Extending or modifying a contract during its term.
What does this mean in practice?
In practice the procurement portals indicate there is an increase of awards from frameworks, dynamic purchasing systems or direct award. We have also witnessed the deadlines being extended for non-urgent purchases.
Both Governments have recognised the pressure that suppliers are under. They have outlined the importance of paying suppliers as quickly as possible. The public sector must pay valid invoices within 30 days. They have been instructed to accelerate this and, on some occasions, you can request to be paid prior to delivery.
What should I be doing now?
However, this does not mean there are no longer opportunities for businesses or indeed that now is not the time to be preparing your business to respond to opportunities.
Now is an ideal time to review the information you have and to ensure you have the right procedures in place to ensure you are ready to respond to opportunities.
You can download our tool which helps you to identify if you are ready to tender here. Use this time to:
Be clear on your procurement strategy – What products do you want to sell to the public sector? Which geographic areas could you work in?
Prepare/update your supplier finder profile (you can download our tool which will help you make the most of this here)
Develop a library of core information that can be tailored for each tender. We do not recommend that you cut and paste responses. However, there is information that is common to submissions that can be gathered.
Book a virtual coffee to discuss the options open to you.
So, although there are not as many opportunities available now there are still opportunities being advertised. Use this time to ensure you are in a position where you can respond to opportunities when they are published.
Get in touch if you’d like to discuss what options are available for you to sell to the public sector.