Busting the myths: contracts always go to the same suppliers

Most small business owners I speak to want to grow their business. To be honest who doesn’t want to grow their business? Most business owners I speak to have not given much consideration to selling to the public sector. Why would you? Its complicated, your business is too small, the cheapest supplier will always win, the reasons not to go on.

What if I told you, these were myths? That the public sector wants to buy from you! Join me over the next few weeks while I bust these myths.

The myth I will debunk this week is that contracts always go to the same suppliers.

MYTH #3 is: contracts always go to the same suppliers.

The reality of this is that an existing (or incumbent) provider should have a good chance of retaining their contract, this is not always the case. Authorities do not always award contracts to existing contractors.

The way that public bodies buy goods and services is a transparent system. As we talked about in last weeks blog buyers can take a number of different elements into account when purchasing goods and services.

Recently I worked with a consortium who were bidding to deliver a self-development programme. This programme had already been the subject of a pilot. Despite not being the existing providers of this programme, which had evaluated well, the consortium was successful with their bid.

Contracts are not only single supplier. There are lots of opportunities that take the form of a framework or dynamic purchasing system. These can offer great opportunities to those businesses new to selling to the public sector. This blog tells you more about the types of contracts used by the public sector.

What are you waiting for?

Last week in our blog we busted the myth that the lowest price will always win a bid. You can find it here.

You can download our free guide here which takes you through the first steps to take in preparing to sell to the public sector.