Winning Public Sector Business - a rough guide

5. Getting down to it

5.1 Finding out about opportunities

All public sector organisations have been tasked with putting information about existing and forthcoming tenders up on their websites by the end of 2004, so that should be your first port of call. However not all Local Authorities will achieve this target so you should also look in the local, trade and national press for Local Authority notices.

There are specialist publications that are commonly used by Local Authorities to advertise their tender opportunities such as Government Opportunities and Contrax Weekly (see: www.bipcontracts.co.uk).
If the contract is above a given value (see 2.2), you will find it advertised on the OJEU website – the free service is at: http://ted.publications.eu.int/official/

This is not very easy to use, but there are several commercial services that will search the OJEU database for you and alert you to opportunities. Check whether your Business Link or Chamber of Commerce has an arrangement to provide this service at a lower cost than you would pay direct.

5.2 Getting considered for work

You may have to go through a pre-qualification stage, submitting answers to a questionnaire in order to get on to a preferred supplier list or to be able to bid. The questionnaire and procedure for getting onto preferred suppliers lists and pre-qualifying to be considered for below-OJEU work will vary between organisations although there are signs it is becoming more standardised.

One of the features of the more advanced public sector organisations is the development of a supplier portal on their website, where suppliers can put in their details and brief descriptions of their products and services as well as expressions of interest for specific tenders, so do check.

Failing that, you will need to establish with each organisation what their approach is; whether they hold a preferred supplier list for your category of supply; if not, what minimum pre-qualification requirements are likely to be expected of suppliers bidding for contracts.

More: 5.3 Complying with public sector requirements

For information or help in breaking into this sector or improving your market share, contact us for a free initial consultation.

To download this guide click here