Competing for success

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By Morven MacNeil, GO Features Editor

The London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games offer huge potential for UK businesses of all sizes to bid for contracts.

Delivering the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games will be a massive procurement undertaking, requiring goods and services from a wide range of both small and large companies.

Requirements for the Games include:

• support from a wide range of professions, including technical and advisory consultants
• land assembly, construction and infrastructure, and the supply of services and materials to the larger contractors
• construction and support facilities for the permanent venues, including transport, as well as their conversion to alternative uses after the Games
• goods and services for the Games themselves, such as sponsorship, sports equipment, venue seating, security, venue IT/score systems, catering, staff/volunteer uniforms and official merchandise

Business Minister Mark Prisk recently hosted the first Olympic sponsors business event to highlight the support on offer from both government and the private sector to businesses in the run-up to 2012. The Olympic Sponsors’ Summit highlighted the Games contracts that are still open to competition as well as the business support packages that 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games sponsors BT, Lloyds TSB and Deloitte can offer.

Speaking at the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills, representatives from BT, Lloyds TSB and Deloitte raised the challenges and opportunities the Games present to businesses in the UK. They discussed how to tackle issues such as protecting against the expected increase in attacks on business IT networks, how to cope with business continuity issues during periods of high demand, and how to maintain an excellent level of customer service during the Games.

These private sector initiatives complement the support already available from government, including the CompeteFor website (www.competefor.com), linking registered companies with Olympics contracts.

CompeteFor is a groundbreaking website that allows the business community to compete for contract opportunities linked to major buying organisations, including central and local government. It began as a brokerage service for the London 2012 Games, matching potential suppliers and buyers and encouraging equality and transparency of opportunity. The website is now being used by a range of other buying organisations to help businesses access direct opportunities and sub-contracts within their supply chains.

Any business can register on CompeteFor to access thousands of direct, indirect and service-related opportunities linked to numerous buyers from both the public and private sectors. Registered businesses have access to supply chain opportunities from organisations such as London 2012, the London Development Agency, Transport for London, Crossrail and Westminster City Council, to name just a few. CompeteFor also provides access to focused business support, building skills and capacity to boost the long-term competitiveness of businesses. CompeteFor is working with Business Link to provide this service.

Although 95 per cent of the Olympic Delivery Authority (ODA)’s direct procurement for the Games has already been completed, there are still potentially thousands of opportunities available within the  supply chains. According to recent statistics from by the London Business Network, over 400 tier two contracts are currently at the tender stage, and it is anticipated that hundreds more sub-contracting opportunities will be generated through CompeteFor as a result.

The London Organising Committee (LOCOG)’s procurement is also under way.

In the next six months LOCOG will be procuring:

• sports equipment, such as boccia equipment, scoreboards and charts
• medical equipment, such as laboratory services and dental equipment
• transport and logistics equipment, such as mobility vehicles and material handling equipment
• catering equipment

Like the ODA, LOCOG’s direct opportunities will be advertised on CompeteFor and subsequently generate many more sub-contracts that small and medium-sized enterprises can bid for.

In total, there have now been over 7400 opportunities advertised on CompeteFor

from over 1000 individual buying organisations. To date over 4570 contracts have been awarded, with nearly 70 per cent going to SMEs and 13 per cent to businesses with ten or less staff.

Over the last year, the scope of CompeteFor has been expanded to cover local authorities in London, under the Mayor’s Economic Recovery Action Plan (ERAP). Over 20 boroughs have used the system to post contract opportunities and Westminster City Council and the London Borough of Haringey have adopted and embedded the system within their procurement processes. Another ‘big win’ this year came when Crossrail adopted CompeteFor to promote the sub-contract opportunities arising from its £15 billion spend. Crossrail has also included a flow-down clause in its sub-contractor contracts.

Crossrail will use CompeteFor to advertise all direct contracts over the relevant EU value thresholds as Notice Only opportunities and signpost potential suppliers to the appropriate tendering route – their eSourcing Portal or the Tenders Electronic Daily (TED) website.

As a client organisation, Crossrail will be letting a relatively small number of direct (Tier 1) contracts. These will be of a very high value. Their Tier 1 contractors, however, will in turn be buying a wide variety of goods, works and services from a large number of smaller suppliers and contractors which form the supply chain for delivery. Crossrail Tier 1 contractors are required to advertise all appropriate indirect opportunities on CompeteFor. Suppliers down the supply chain are also encouraged to post their opportunities on CompeteFor. This will allow Crossrail to stimulate an increased number and variety of indirect opportunities in their supply chains, in support of SMEs.

Mr Prisk said: “The London Games are generating billions of pounds worth of contracts throughout the supply chain, securing new business for firms and powering their growth for the long term. This is an opportunity that no company can afford to miss out on.”

LOCOG Procurement Director Gerry Walsh has emphasised that there are still huge opportunities for companies that have not yet secured an Olympic contract, with significant LOCOG contracts still to be awarded.

Mr Walsh said: “There are many contract opportunities still to be won – and these contracts will be awarded to companies of all sizes, from multinationals to SMEs. Our priority when awarding contracts is value for money – and total commitment to London 2012.”

Further information

For further information, please visit:  www.competefor.com