WRITTEN ON February 24th, 2006 BY William Heath AND STORED IN Government Procurement

Lance Piper notes good suppliers often have to launder their bids through an OGC-listed supplier that often adds little value

I maybe don’t feel as strongly as you – so given that that OJEC rules
are unlikely to change – my anecdote only relates to the OGC Lists.

A project decided to invite a tender to all the suppliers on the
appropriate list. Without exception the bid was prepared by a
sub-contractor who had heard of the opportunity and asked a listed
supplier to do the bid for them. The main contractor, in effect, only
added cost for minimal value and allowed a faster procurement process.

The impact is that reasonable non-listed companies could not be
approached. This stifles innovation and the possibility of inviting
smaller companies who are striving to grow in the government market
place. A public listing is not possible for contracts over the OJEC
limit.

Sorry I don’t have a wibbi, other than removing all external
regulation. Internal procurement procedures seem quite good. Perhaps
an alternative might be surveillance from a regional centre of
procurement excellence (but I don’t know how good they are at reducing
bureaucracy).