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29 April 2010 - Never cast a clout before May is out
I thought it would be nice to share the comments penned by Business Junction below, especially as they links to a business survey of Business Junction members, of which I am one.
I do agree with most of the survey findings although I would like to say a word in support of the Train 2 Gain government funding, especially the Leadership and Management programme. The application process is very fast - at least in London - and it can be used for a wide range of training support. I have secured Train 2 Gain funding for several of my clients over the past year including to help clients improve their capacity to bid for and win public sector tenders and feedback has been very positive.
Business Junction wrote: "Never cast a clout before May is out, especially as there are plenty of politicians to cast your clouts at, as they wander around pointing at big machines and smiling awkwardly at babies. In seven years of building the largest independent business network in London, we have never once received a request from any politician to meet with and discuss the different concerns of the thousands of business people who have attended our events. I blame Sue.
The new MPs might like to bring themselves up to speed with the pressing issues that concern us all by taking a look at the latest results of the b-annual London Business Survey that we produce in association with Clarity. They should be especially concerned with the slow payment of public sector invoices, the iniquities of the tendering process and how business support is targeted.
Results highlights
- Business conditions improved in the last 6 months, the 3rd consecutive period in succession
- Business confidence for the next 6 months reached its highest level since the London Business Survey began in Spring 2009
- 73% of London businesses surveyed receive payment for Public Sector projects later than 29 days from invoice
- The business support programmes by the Government, LDA and Mayors office continue to achieve a poor take up rate and where taken up by London businesses, the impact has been inconsistent
For the full report, please click here: London Business Survey Results"
8 April 2010 - Will public sector procurement become more transparent?
In December 2009 the EU Remedies Directive came into force in the UK - the Public Contracts (Amendments) Regulations 2009, different but similar rules apply to Scotland.
The aim of the 2009 regulations is to make public sector procurement more transparent and prevent public authorities from breaking the rules.
I’m sure many companies, especially smaller public sector suppliers, welcome anything that achieves more transparency, but only time will tell how effective the new rules are.
As implied by the name, there are now more remedies to deal with ‘contracting authorities’ that break the rules.
They end illegal direct awards that are above the OJEU thresholds, so one authority can on longer just let a contract to another authority without due process.
If the rules are broken a contract can be set aside, so the new rules affect the company winning the contract as well as any company that feels it lost out due to malpractice.
Penalties include fines, an order to rectify defects in the procurement process and contract shortening. The redress for a company that suffers as a result of an ineffective (illegal) contract is proportional to the contract i.e. it may be an amount equal to their profits had they won the contact.
There is a new ‘stand-still’ period of 10-15 days (10 for email notifications, 15 for letters) between the notification of a successful bidder and the actual entering into a contract. The stand-still period is to allow time for a dissatisfied party to request a debrief, or challenge the decision of the contracting party, before a contract is entered into.
Material variations to a contact will now require a re-tender even if the variation is a price reductions by the supplier.
The new regulations only apply to contacts where the procurement process began after 20 December 2009 when the new regulations came into force.
The above is a brief summary of the new regulation as written up from my notes during a presentation at the Procurex national conference in March 2010. You should seek legal advice or expert opinion if it is important to you to understand the full implications of the new regulations.
 The notion that a business plan is outmoded seems to be gaining force in some quarters. But actually it turns out that it is not exactly that business planning is outmoded, the critique it all about the approach and the words used to describe the planning process.
Goal setting, testing out ideas, mapping processes and the like are all still in the mix and in my book these are all business planning tools.
It is true that the business plan need not be of door-stopping proportions and should always be a live document. So yes, small is beautiful – but it is still important to plan.
The plan should never dictate to you – you dictate the plan so it is a fallacy to say that the plan is a straight jacket that restricts your flexibility – it is as flexible as you want it to be.
Nor does it necessarily need to be one document – it can be a set of tools that you use to plan and monitor your business as it grows.
There is a huge difference between the dry corporate approach to business planning seen in the public sector and in large businesses and the approach that should be taken by small and medium sized business owners. Those that decry the institutionalized nature of the business plan are often mixing up these two worlds.
One of the critical areas that must be fully worked through is the pricing of products and services. It is surprising how many businesses out there are selling products at a loss and they don’t even realize it.
When this is pointed out and it is suggested that prices should go up there is often concern and worry that clients will be lost. Yet by selling at a higher price a business can afford to lose some clients and still be more profitable. This is where financial planning comes in.
Business Talent offers two short courses to help small business owners and entrepreneurs put some planning behind their business ambition: A two x 3 hours Business Plan Workout One to One Training Course and a four x 3 hours Business Plan Field Trip One to One Training Course.Read more about our business planning courses
The Procurex National Procurement Exhibition, 2010 (9th and 10th March) included a good range of rapid, half hour training sessions on a wide number of topics – the most popular with private sector punters being The Do’s and Don’ts of PQQa (Pre Qualification Questionnaires). Most are no-brainers but still it’s good to be reminded about some of the techniques to deal with issues and perceived weaknesses when you are tendering for public sector contracts.
Lesson number one is – know the rules – if you don’t know the rules you will most likely fall foul of them and be weeded out early on in the process. As the presenter of this session pointed out ‘the purpose of the Pre Qualification Questionnaire (PQQ) is to get rid of you’. Typically the buyer does not want to invite more than five or six companies to tender so if you make it easy for them to rule you out on a technical issue they will do so.
Tell the truth but “big it up” where you can e.g. no need to say that you will be using however many sub-contractors to deliver the contract if you are not specifically ask to say whether your human resources are staff or sub-contractors.
Similarly the buyer may ask for three years of financial records or a certain level of turnover which you don't quite have – rather than dryly saying we have only been around for two years and our turnover is xxx, what you might say instead (if true) is 'we have only been around for two years but look what we have achieved in that time and we forecast that next year our turnover will be xxx and in three years our turnover will be xxx (much bigger) and look at the clients we have already worked with' etc. etc. – spin it!
-Do provide the personal profiles of your people, to demonstrate how capable they are.
Do provide references and testimonials from former clients.
Do provide details of memberships of professional bodies and details of your accreditations.
Most of all do make sure that you read the Pre Qualification Questionnaire (PQQ) and read it again, plus find someone else who is competent to read it as well, to ensure you do not miss anything. Check your final submission against what is asked for and again get a second person to do the same.
Do meet the submission deadline and return your PQQ as requested e.g. if asked for three hard copies, send three hard copies, if asked for your PQQ electronically send it electronically.
As I said this is all logical and good sense yet it seems so many would-be suppliers manage to get the basics wrong.
For details of the trainer for this and other sessions on Day 2 of the exhibition follow this link:
http://www.procurexnational.co.uk/day2zone2.html
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