Fair chance of winning contracts for SMEs
According to reports, local businesses are being promised a better chance of winning a share of £100m worth of council contracts.
Derby City Council is to introduce a raft of measures to make it easier for Derby and Derbyshire firms to successfully bid for the work it puts out.
The authority is to make changes to the way it advertises, phrases and helps businesses bid for the contracts.
With the city council spending more than £100m each year on goods and services, the aim of the changes is to help small, local firms tap into that money.
George Cowcher, Chief Executive of the Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire Chamber of Commerce said: “This is welcome news. There are many small to medium-sized firms in Derby which, to some degree, rely on winning public-sector contracts in order to grow their business – or indeed survive – and many of them might not necessarily have the in-house skills or experience to bid for council contracts effectively.”
The council has already started to implement the changes. A key difference is that the council will consider the local and social impact of contracts and build that into the way it judges bids.
For example, although a company cannot be awarded a contract purely because it is based in the county, the council could require any winning bidder to demonstrate it would have a low-carbon impact. This could help those businesses based locally as they would have less need for transport.
Other changes include working with businesses to help them understand the way the council puts work out to tender, organising training events with the chamber of commerce to help businesses gain skills in putting together successful bids and making procurement documents simpler.
Loading ...