Our news, research and analysis.
Our users: NIC Group
www.nicgroup.co.uk
Next in our series featuring our customers, this week: NIC Group (www.nicgroup.co.uk).
NIC Group are an award winning facilities management company with customers across retail, automotive, health and education. They cover everything from cleaning to waste management and grounds maintenance.
Thank you for using OpenOpps. We hope you find all the right opportunities for your business and good luck in your bids.
Why do Government IT projects fail?
Pixabay.com
Why do Government IT projects consistently fail? Below are eight reasons why we keep getting this wrong.
1. We've bought into a tech utopia
Believe that technology is a solution to difficult problems, and we start to think about the edge case of possibilities and how it can be used to deliver a utopian future - blockchain anyone? But when we think like this, it means that the boring stuff, like upgrading all of the Windows machines in the NHS, gets ignored.
2. We forget the users
Once you...
Customer Profile: Critiquie
Critiquie.com
We're starting an occasional series featuring our customers, this week, Critiquie.com.
Critiquie is an online feedback service, that allows businesses and government to get fast, efficient feedback from customers and service users. Icon driven feedback means that it is super easy for customers to tell you what they thought of your service.
Thanks for using OpenOpps, we hope you win lots of business through us.
Where do we gather data from?
wikimedia commons
As I write we have 246,389 live opportunities from 250 countries around the world on the OpenOpps.com site, all available for free.
How do we do collect this data and why is it free?
We collect the data using an army of scripts, or robots as we like to call them, that go and gather the data for us from the internet. Each robot is given the task of visiting the pages on different sites that store the data and gathering it up before we insert it into our database.
We gather data fr...
Artificial Intelligence in procurement, a risky proposition?
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/38/Complex_pedigree_network.jpg
Artificial intelligence, we are told, will change the workplace of the future and make many of our jobs redundant. As is often the case with future gazing, the reality will in all likelihood be much more prosaic, and the utopian dream of a labour less future seems unlikely to emerge. That said, a profound shift is certain to engulf us and the work of purchasing will likely be affected.
In some ways, AI is already here. Our own website OpenOpps.com uses artificial intelligence to cl...
Want better contracts? Get better data.
Sony Pictures 2011
The struggling outsourcer Interserve finally called in the administrators. Unlike Carillion, the demise of the firm has been orderly and public contracts have been protected whilst the firm's lenders arrange for a sale of the firm.
The failure has raised a question about public contracting and whether it is meeting the needs of citizens. Since the demise of Carillion it has been common to hear people ask, "how do you fix public contracting?"
It is important to gain some perspective at this ...
Work for Us! We're hiring a Front-End Web Developer
Spend Network
Spend Network is a data analysis company dedicated to solving problems through the release of open data. We’re a small, friendly team that cares about being inclusive and doing good work. We’re open to remote working and flexible working. For instance, we'd love to work with someone who was returning to work, could only work 9-to-3, or needed a job share. We’re inquisitive, supportive and diligent.
We work with procurement data and have the largest, open database of te...
Nine Months Later: Reasons for Interserve’s Troubles – Revisited
https://www.geograph.org.uk/reuse.php?id=5036636
In March 2018, Open Opps published an article explaining the reasons for Interserve’s drop in share values in the wake of the collapse of Carillion and rumours of a Cabinet Office team being set up to monitor their financial health.[1] Now, nine months later, shares fell as low as 6.5p on Monday, down 70% from Friday, following the company revealing they are seeking a rescue deal to resolve their £500 million of debts.[2] Once again, we take a look at central, local and NHS trust ...
Our Data Pitch Journey is Coming to a Close
Data Pitch
Over the last six months we've been priveledged to be part of Data Pitch: 'an open innovation programme bringing together corporate and public-sector organisations that have data with startups and SMEs that work with data'.
The problem we tackled
Data on public procurement is disorganised, spread across multiple portals and not connected to identifiers, making it hard to analyse trends in public sector markets and find opportunities.
The situation is particularly bad in Europe where data i...
Work for Us! We're hiring a Database Administrator
Open Opps
It seems that most people who follow the news have wondered at some point, why Government contracts keep going wrong. That’s where OpenOpps.com fits in, we’re a small agency that gathers public procurement data and uses it to improve the way public bodies spend money and combat fraud, as well as helping suppliers to engage with Governments. We do all of this in the open, so that everyone can benefit from our work. We have a range of digital products that companies and Govern...
Work for Us! We're hiring a Research Manager
Open Opps
It seems that most people who follow the news have wondered at some point why Government contracts keep going wrong. That’s where OpenOpps.com fits in, we’re a small agency that gathers public procurement data and uses it to improve the way public bodies spend money and combat fraud, as well as helping suppliers to engage with Governments. We do all of this in the open, so that everyone can benefit from our work. We have a range of digital products that companies and Governm...
Scotland Boosts Procurement Transparency with Supplier Journey Website
Photo by Ashley Batz on Unsplash
The Scottish Government has made its procurement process more transparent to all by created a new website for potential government suppliers, explaining how to bid for public sector contracts. It went live on the 18th of June, providing insight for companies wanting to engage in public procurement in Scotland.
The free website sets out how companies can bid for contracts to supply goods, services and health and social care to government. It takes potential suppliers through each stage ...
Our Platform Wins Praise from Spend Matters
Open Opps
Spend Matters has featured our platform and research in a new article.
It promotes our spend analysis tool, which allows users to find out about where the government is spending money and provides a pipeline of future opportunities.
It also praises the completeness of our data compared to Contracts Finder and our research on government procurement.
'We’ve got no personal axe to grind here, no financial interest or similar, but it seems a matter of common sense that the Government Commerc...
Four Key Reasons for Interserve’s Troubles
Photo by Jamie Street on Unsplash
Shares in Interserve dropped over 15% in January just a day after the Carillion collapse after rumours emerged that a Cabinet Office team was set up to monitor its financial health.1 Open data on central, local and NHS trust spending with Interserve from 2011 to June 2017 reveals how the company’s problems occured.
-
Total spend is down
Total spend with Interserve was £461.7m in 2013, but was down to £427.7m in 2016. It’s a big drop, but on its only the s...
Procurement jargon explained
Photo by Joao Silas on Unsplash
Do you need a quick way to explain procurement terms? Here’s a run down of some common terms used in procurement, including acronyms to watch out for:
-
Alcatel period
-
A ten calendar day standstill period between the announcement of a contract award on OJEU and the signing of a contract, designed so unsuccessful bidders have time to challenge the decision. It is named after two linked cases that came to the European Court of Justice in 1998.
-
Competitive Dialogue Proce...
Upcoming Supplier Events -March Update
Photo by Curtis MacNewton on Unsplash
Here’s our rundown of events across regions and industries where you can learn more about how to sell to government.
Govtech 2018
London
19th April
Government Computing will return to London on the 19th April 2018 to discuss the latest challenges and opportunities in public sector technology. We’ll be bringing together IT leaders from across central and local government to examine how the sector can meet the twin challenges of ever present budget cuts and greater demands on ...
G-Cloud 10 is coming! Here’s How to Get it Right
Lindsay Smith
Lindsay Smith advises companies on how to make the most of G-Cloud. We asked him for insights as the government announces G-Cloud 10 will open in April.
Can you tell me a bit about your experience and how you got involved with public procurement?
I've been knocking around in the technology sector for quite some time. Most recently I ran a trade association called Euro Cloud in the UK for about four years, starting at the same time that G-Cloud in 2012. It was most interesting, because we ...
Why Open Contracting Matters - an Interview with Hera Hussain
Hera Hussain
We interviewed Hera Hussain, of the Open Contracting Partnership to find out why open contracting benefits both public sector buyers and the companies who bid for their contracts.
Please tell me a little about your experience and the work of the Open Contracting Partnership.
I used to work at Open Corporates where I was working on open company data and now I’m working at Open Contracting which is about transparency in public procurement. I’ve been here since August. It&r...
Upcoming Supplier Events - February Update
Curtis MacNewton on Unsplash
Here’s our rundown of events across regions and industries where you can learn more about how to sell to government.
You Can Export Masterclasses
Various Locations
Various Dates
The Department of International Trade is running masterclasses on exporting throughout February and March. Visit the link below to find out when the next session in your area will be.
https://www.events.trade.gov.uk/you-can-export-masterclasses/
Procurex England South 2018
London
15th March
Be part ...
What the Carillion Crisis means to the Government
Terry Robinson @ geograph.org.uk
How bad is the Carillion crisis and why is it so hard to unpick? Having spent the best part of 15 years looking at public procurement data, this is my take on the situation.
We've identified that 208 public bodies had some form of contract with Carillion in the last five years. The total spend with Carillion in the published spend reports was nearly £1bn in 2016, but this shrank in 2017. We don't have complete data for 2017, but by our estimates Carillion's public sector revenu...
How bad is the situation with Capita?
N Chadwick at geography.org.uk
Capita's turnover in Government has grown significantly in the last six years. They had been known as a local government specialist, but have made significant gains in both Central Government and NHS. In 2012, they earned £310m from Central Government, but in just three years, this had grown to £700m. Both the DWP and the MOD paid Capita in excess of £100m in 2015
In Local Government, their earnings went from £438m in 2012 to £664m in 2015, with Essex County Cou...
Upcoming Supplier Events - January Update
Photo by Curtis MacNewton on Unsplash
Start 2018 by getting in front of public sector buyers. Here’s our rundown of events across regions and industries.
Simplifying the process of selling to the public sector
Webinar
18th January
Crown Commercial Service is working to standardise terms and conditions and simplify the language used in contracts to make it easier for SMEs to sell to government. Jason Waterman, Deputy Director of Disputes & Policy Implementation, is lead this work on simplifying business for SMEs. In ...
Help or hindrance? How bad tender descriptions hurt suppliers
Photo by G. Crescoli on Unsplash
When deciding whether to bid for a tender, often the first thing a potential supplier reads is the tender description. Published as part of the tender notice, it provides a summary of what exactly a buyer is looking for so companies know whether it is an opportunity worth investigating. However, some of these descriptions are not fit for purpose.
We surveyed word counts of descriptions for over 35,000 tenders published in the UK by the public sector and public corporates to determine whether...
Focus on Veolia
Helen McNally
Waste, water and energy specialist Veolia has contracts throughout the UK public sector, mainly for waste management and utilities, including a recent long term contract with Croydon, Sutton, Kingston and Merton councils in London.1
We investigated all public sector spending with Veolia and Veolia owned companies, including Affinity Water. This has growth by 61% from 2012 to 2016 with the greatest change between 2013 and 2014 of 40%.
Although annual growth appears to slowing, with only a 2%...
The View from Local Government: Interview with the New Local Government Network
Claire Mansfield
The New Local Government Network (NLGN) has spent 21 years working with local authorities and are experts in how this branch on the public sector works and what this means for companies who want to work with it. Claire Mansfield, research manager at NLGN, tells us more.
Please can you tell me a bit about NLGN and the work that you do there?
We are a 21 year old think tank and membership organisation. We have two parts of the organisation. We have network of 40 councils and eight corpo...
Upcoming Supplier Events - November Update
Photo by Curtis MacNewton on Unsplash
These upcoming events are designed to help companies meet buyers, understand markets, and improve marketing. Local, regional, national and international opportunities are to be had and these events are a great way to learn more.
GO NHS Procurement Conference 2017
16 November
London
Want insight into a £26 billion market? This conference will explain local, regional and national routes into selling to the NHS and the challenges the organisation faces. Delivering world class service...
The Future of Buying and Selling
Chris Colquitt
Chris Colquitt is Manager of Global Proposal Management at Clarivate Analytics, global leader in providing trusted insights and analytics to accelerate the pace of innovation. He has specialised in pitches and proposals since 2010.
What is your experience and expertise?
First and foremost I’m an experienced bids and proposals manager. I manage the global proposal team at Clarivate Analytics. We have a huge customer base inside global and international governmental bodies as we...
Bidding is expensive, but not bidding can be even more expensive.
Open Opps
At openopps.com we know that it’s the small details that make the difference, that’s why we gather data from over 1,000 different publishers every day to bring you every tender we can.
But it’s not enough to know that an opportunity exists, to make the best bidding decisions you need to gain real insights into your targets and your market. Our new spend tool can show you future opportunities, as well as detailed insight into the spending of hundreds of public sector b...
Want to know who won a public contract? The chances are that you never will.
Caleb Roenigk_Flickr
The public never gets to know who won more than 50% of tenders published by Local Government and the NHS according to data on Contracts Finder, the Government’s tender portal. Across the whole of Government 43% of tenders do not have a contract award even though publishing contract award data is a legal requirement.1
Using data taken from Contracts Finder, we have counted up all the tenders that had deadlines more than a year ago and yet are still missing contract award notices. Howeve...
Focus on Redfern
Spend Network / Open Opps
In November 2011, Redfern caused shock in the travel management industry by ousting Capita to win the domestic part of a travel contract for civil servants, despite only being a medium-sized, Yorkshire-based company.1
Awarding such a large contract to a then-unknown company was controversial at the time,2 Cabinet Office Minister Francis Maude had to defend the policy of breaking down contracts to allow SMEs a foothold.3 However, since then Redfern has ballooned in size,4 using automation to ...
Civtech and innovation in government services
Tim Barnes
Tim Barnes leads initiatives to support small companies looking to innovate the public sector by using IT and other technologies. The aim is to improve the delivery of government and public services, civil society or engagement with citizens, a movement known as Civtech1 which has just had a major boost from the Scottish Government.2 Here Tim explains what it’s all about and how to get involved.
Please can you introduce yourself and tell me about your background and the work you’...
Upcoming Supplier Events - October Update
Photo by Curtis MacNewton on Unsplash
These upcoming events are designed to help companies meet buyers, understand markets, and improve marketing. Local, regional, national and international opportunities are to be had and these events are a great way to learn more.
ConstructionOnline - Meet the Buyer
September to November
Various locations
Construction Online is organising a programme of Meet the Buyer events for the construction industry. Events will be attended by main contractors and public sector buyers. The first even...
Focus on Serco
Spend Network
Between 2014-2016 the UK public sector published a total spend of £953.9m with Serco, the outsourcing giant. However, there was a year on year spend increase of only 0.9%, below the rate of inflation, echoing the problems Serco has had in the public sector.
In 2013, Serco was in trouble, hit by multiple scandals involving public sector contracts in electronic tagging,1 prisoner transport,2 and out-of hours healthcare support.3 Serco was investigated for fraud and banned from biddi...
How competitive are the public sector's large tenders?
Photo by Steven Lelham on Unsplash
£10.8bn of contracts were let through tenders with worryingly short response times, calling into question whether these tenders were sufficiently competitive. Since April 2015, there have been 27 tenders that had a value of more than £10m where suppliers were given less than twenty days to respond, potentially making these tenders less competitive than they should be.
The Crown Commercial Service gave bidders just 17 days to respond to a tender worth over £4bn, whilst the D...
Delivering Government Contracts - John Fernau Interview
John Fernau
For SMEs who want to learn about doing business with the UK government, there are few better people to talk to than John Fernau. John was the head of procurement for the London Olympics before running procurement for the Home Office. Now his company, Fernau Solutions, offers assistance and support to businesses wishing to sell to government.
John has a unique perspective on government procurement, having worked both on the buyer and supplier sides. We interviewed him on his advice for suppli...
Which Buyers Award Contracts to Small Businesses?
Photo © David Dixon (cc-by-sa/2.0)
This is the second article in a series looking at the government’s contracting data to create new insights into the government market. This month, we’re looking at the buyers that are awarding contracts to small or medium businesses (SMEs).
We looked at the data published on Contracts Finder to determine what percentage of individual contracts went to small SMEs. To feature in our analysis each buyer had to have published at least 50 tenders, our top ten is as follows:
Upcoming Supplier Events - August Update
Pixabay
For suppliers trying to get into the public sector market, it’s important to find ways to engage with buyers. Events can be a great way to meet potential clients and demonstrate what your company can offer. Here’s our rundown of government procurement events to look out for in the next few months.
Digital Services in Government
8th September
Brighton
This event aims at demystifying Public Sector procurement for local SMEs. Warren Smith of the Government Digital Service (GDS) w...
Focus on G4S
Open Opps
The government’s spending with security supplier G4S from 2012 to 2016 has gone up by 29%, but the size of average payments has gone up by 54% and the number of buyers has gone down from an average of 93 per month in 2012 to 78 in 2016. This means G4S’s public sector customer base is narrowing so they will be more dependant on a few key contracts.
In 2016, G4S had its biggest public sector spend, thanks to a £37m payment from the Home Office. However, this may not be good n...
The Corporate Sadist’s Guide to Small Business Development
Pixabay
BY WYBRAND GANZEVOORT
Have small suppliers been pestering you lately? Do you wish you could get rid of that troublesome entrepreneurial bunch? Employ just one of these 5 simple methods for destroying SMME suppliers and your days of listening to their constant whining about innovation will be over. We guarantee that by using these tried and tested methods you can say goodbye to your SMME problems and you will forever be rid of those pesky little ventures.
Method 1: Pay them late
Use t...
Upcoming Supplier Events - July Update
Pixabay
Upcoming Supplier Events - July Update
It’s important for suppliers trying to get into the public sector market to find ways to engage with buyers. Events can be a great way to meet potential clients and demonstrate what your company can offer. Here’s our rundown of government procurement events to look out for in the next few months.
Business Gateway Events
Every Wednesday
Edinburgh
Weekly events to help entrepreneurs set up and run businesses. An example of the events ...
Focus on Govia
Pixabay
The Southern Rail franchise was revealed this week to have the lowest customer satisfaction score in the recent National Rail Passenger Survey.1 This follows years of disruption from strikes and reports of poor-value service, for which Southern’s owners, Govia have been fined £13.4m.2
Govia runs services across the country, including London and Birmingham railway (also known as London Midland), South Eastern and Great Northern. In London, Govia also runs the Thameslink and ...
The Waiting Game: Who are the slowest buyers in the UK?
Pixabay
Research by OpenOpps.com shows that the procurement process is least efficient in the NHS, where tender awards take longer and bidders are given less time to respond to tenders.
Open Opps analysed over forty six thousand tender and contract notices to determine how long it takes organisations to go from publishing a tender notice to awarding a contract. This is a useful metric to analyse, as it serves as a proxy for organisational efficiency, but also has an impact on the bidders, particular...
How to Organise a Successful Tender Responses - Interview with Katy Berrill
Katy Berrill
Katy Berrill is the Director of Bid & Tender Support. She and her team offer a range of bid and tender support services to their clients including a bid search service, bid strategy reviews and bid writing and review support. Katy shared with us some top tips on getting a bid strategy right.
Please can you tell me a little about your company and expertise?
Bid & Tender Support has been in business for just over three years. We support companies who are tendering for work in bo...
To Bid or Not To Bid - An Interview with Philip Norman
Philip Norman
There are thousands of public sector tenders active at any given time in the UK alone and many could look like a good fit for your company. Unfortunately, it’s unlikely your sales or bid team will have the resources to chase after every opportunity, in fact if you’re a small company you might not even have someone devoted to bidding. So how do you prioritise to make sure you only bid where you have a good chance of winning? We spoke to Philip Norman, Director of Bidbetter, for adv...
Capita - Was 2016 a blip or the beginning of a downturn?
Open Opps
Capita’s difficulties could continue as the public sector market hardens. Our research shows that tenders in Capita’s key categories are declining in average value while the volume of tenders is increasing, so Capita will need to bid more often for contracts that generate less revenue.
Capita’s public sector business in has grown significantly in four out of the five last years, from £497.3m in 2012 to £973.5m in 2016. However, from 2015 to 2016 there was a decl...
Upcoming Supplier Events
Pixabay
Public Sector Show
27th June
ExCeL London
This is the biggest event of the year for procurement teams from across the public sector. Over 2,000 delegates, all decision makers, will be there, making it a good place to make contacts in government. Businesses can purchase packages to be sponsors, exhibitors and speakers. For more information about the packages on offer and how to register, visit http://www.psshow.co.uk/packages/.
Constructiononline - London M...
7 reasons SMEs should consider selling to the public sector
Pixabay
It can seem complicated and time-consuming, but there are lots of reasons for SMEs to sell to the public sector. Here are seven of them:
-
The Government spends £200bn per year on goods and services with all sorts of businesses, from cleaners to hairdressers.
-
There were over 220,000 public sector tenders in the UK in the last 12 months. That’s a lot of opportunities, even for small businesses.
-
The Government is loyal to suppliers. Barriers to entry can work in your fa...
We're Open Contracting Innovation Challenge Finalists
Open Contracting Partnership
Open Opps is delighted to be one of six finalists chosen for the Open Contracting Innovation Challenge, a competition run by the Open Contracting Partnership and the Open Data Institute to recognize groundbreaking data-driven ideas for improving public procurement.
Our project, ‘Joined up data’ will unlock new analysis opportunities of procurement data by linking and matching the data of buyers and government entities for our database of over 450 different sources from 76 countri...
Only 27% of public sector tenders are on Contracts Finder
Open Opps
At Open Opps we scour the web to publish every tender we can possibly find for our users. We pay a lot of attention to the UK, and we’re confident that we have every public sector tender that is published online.
Having compared all of the opportunities that we’ve gathered over the past two years, with all of the opportunities on Contracts Finder, we found nearly 100,000 tenders that never made it to Contracts Finder, that’s 73% of all the tenders published in England.1 Thi...
Upcoming contract: Public Sector Resourcing (Temporary Staffing)
Pixabay
The Crown Commercial Service is planning a new framework agreement for temporary staffing to replace the existing ‘Contingent Labour One’ framework which will come to an end in June 2018.
About the contract
The current framework contract is split into three lots managed by Capita, Brook Street and Hays respectively.
The spend through Contingent Labour One (2013 - 2016) was:
-
Lot 1 Interim Managers and Specialist Contractors (Capita): £468m
-
Lot 2 Administrative an...
Back to Business… a focus on Deloitte
Ian Makgill
Deloitte is the largest professional services company in the world and one of the big four accountancy firms. So what does its public sector business look like? These slides show how much it has grown over the past five years.
Deloitte’s presence in government has grown significantly in the past five years, from £50m in 2012. to £73m in 2016. This is an increase of 32%, an average of 6.5% annual growth. While turnover is increasing across both central and lo...
How to find tender opportunities (free or paid)
Ian Makgill
Here we review all of the available tools for searching for tenders in the UK and beyond. (Hey, we know we’re biased, but we think that we can still do a good job of representing the market).
OpenOpps
Url: https://OpenOpps.com
Cost: Free
OpenOpps is a free service for the UK and 76 further countries around the rest of the world, including a range of international government sources such as the World Bank. With 69% more data than Contracts Finder, OpenOpps is the best, free UK servic...
How are the outsourcing giants faring?
Ian Makgill
Capita up, Capgemini down: Is the market still strong?
We’ve used the open spend data published by government bodies for calendar years 2012 to 2016, available as of March 2017, to create a comprehensive picture of the growing IT professional services market in the public sector.
The market is growing by an average of 5% a year and spend across government now averages around £50m a month. The rise is due to the increase in spending with key suppliers in central government,...
10 of my secrets on how to sell into the UK Public Sector
Mary McKenna
This article was originally published on LinkedIn on the 5th of October 2016 by Mary McKenna, tech entrepreneur & long time public sector SME supplier. You can follow her here: @mmarymckenna.
********
I recently delivered an impromptu talk on this topic at an unconference. Despite the unconference Law of Two Feet rule, my talk was well attended and generated such a volume of questions that I decided to jot down a few thoughts in this blog to continue the conversation and to gather any u...
Our Organicity Experiment: Where does public sector money go?
Screenshot
Organicity encourages co-creating for smart cities through an exciting new set of tools for working with and sharing data. We were chosen as an experimenter to test out the platform with a project designed to improve understanding on public spending in London.
Back in February we shared our story so far and revealed the challenges we had encountered in enriching data through listing the government. Since then, we’ve been experimenting with Organicity tools to create data visualisations...
The £6.1bn nuclear contract debacle
https://www.flickr.com/photos/martinrp/2047586869
There are few public contract bungles as egregious as the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority’s (NDA) £6.1bn contract to dismantle 12 Magnox nuclear power stations. Not only will it be terminated ten years early, but two of the unsuccessful competitors are also being paid a hefty settlement by the UK taxpayer after a series of errors emerged in the tendering and bid evaluation processes.
The tendering process began in 2012 and lasted 18 months, with Cavendish Fluor Partnership (CFP...
Spare a thought for the buyers
Pixabay
We understand that it can be frustrating to bid for government contracts, but bear in mind how hard it can be to be a buyer in Government. In our view, outside of front line staff, buyers possibly have one of the hardest, and certainly most thankless, tasks in Government. Here’s why.
Procurement teams can face hostility from their colleagues who view them as the ‘business prevention unit’ because they have to follow stringent regulations. At the same time, they are expected...
Changes to European procurement legislation - a very short introduction
Pixabay
European procurement legislation is complicated and regularly updated to account for legal judgements and new procurement initiatives. It takes a while to even begin to wrap your head around it, so this blog is aimed at making life easier by providing a short introduction to the latest changes in European public procurement directives.
Public procurement directivesoutline the process that must be followed before a public sector body awards a works, supply or services contract to suppliers wh...
Listing the Government
Pixabay
It’s hard work to create a list of every government body in the UK, here’s what we’ve found so far.
The public sector covers a vast range of organisations: central government, councils, courts, prisons, the NHS, schools, universities, quangos, social housing associations, port authorities, fisheries, and more. It seems as if the longer you spend investigating the public sector, the bigger it becomes!
There is no openly available list of all the UK’s public sector bod...
Making the case for Open Contracting in Healthcare
Transparency International 2017
Transparency International have published a new report on the need for open contracting data in healthcare, which also features https://openopps.com.
http://ti-health.org/content/making-case-open-contracting/
This small paragraph sums up the need for open data in contracting very neatly:
The Power of Positive Bids - Advice from bidding expert Tony Zemaitis
Pixabay
It's always best to be positive when you're bidding for a government contract, it makes you sound confident and assessors will view you favourably.
But how do you get your bids to shine?
Bidding expert
Why you should use OpenOpps.com
Pixabay
We want you to use us, so we’ve done our utmost to make sure we’re offering the best possible deal for you. Here’s why you should search for opportunities on OpenOpps.com:
-
We’re free to search
-
All our open tenders are free to search for everyone. We have advanced search options so you can search by buyer and industry code. Our fast, efficient search helps you to find the tenders that are relevant to you. This means it’s easier to find the opportunitie...
Open Opps is Free!
Pixabay
OpenOpps.com now has the world’s tenders to search for free. All you need to do is register and you’ll be able to search unlimited tenders from public sector buyers.
OpenOpps.com has the largest collection of UK public sector tenders available for anyone to search for free. On average, we have 50% more opportunities than Contracts Finder because we find our tenders from over a hundred different tender portals so you you don’t have to!
We’ve always been proud to ...
Experimenting with Organicity - Open Opps’ story so far
Organicity
Organicity encourages co-creating for smart cities through an exciting new set of tools for working with and sharing data. We’ve been lucky enough to be chosen as an experimenter to test out the platform with a data project designed to improve understanding on public spending in London. We’re now looking for people to test our offering, please get in touch to find out more: contact@openopps.com.
In November, we began our experiment on Organicity and, so far, most of our work has ...
Better search: Tip 1 - Use multiple terms
http://www.publicdomainpictures.net/view-image.php?image=53787&picture=rainbow-corridor
We've recently updated our search algorithms, so you're going to get fewer tender results when you search, but those results will be more accurate. That's good news, until you get the dreaded "no results" page.
So here’s a tip on how to broaden your search.
Whilst you might call something by a certain name, are you sure that buyers are using the same terms? You might be looking for cleaning services, but some buyers might decide that they’re looking for janitorial services. In t...
Better search: Tip 2 - Drop the quotes
http://deathtothestockphoto.com
We've recently updated our search algorithms, so you're going to get fewer tender results when you search, but those results will be more accurate. That's good news, until you get the dreaded "no results" page.
So here’s a tip on how to broaden your search.
If you searched for a word or a couple of words that brought up no results, there are a couple of things you can do, firstly if you used quotes around a search term remove them. Our search is strict, so if you enter the search term...
Better search: Tip 3 - Combine with category
YuMaNuMa [CC BY 3.0 (https://www.flickr.com/photos/yumanuma/5421234992) via Flickr
We've recently updated our search algorithms, so you're going to get fewer results, but those results will be more accurate. That's good news, until you get the dreaded "no results" page.
So here’s a tip on how to broaden your search.
Use the CPV classification in the advanced search to locate opportunities across a whole category.
Categories allow you to explore the area that interests your business, they're a good way to identify the words that are commonly used by buyers in your i...
Better search: Tip 4 - Narrow your search
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/2/24/Veteran_Affairs_backlog_%282012-08-09%29.jpg/1024px-Veteran_Affairs_backlog_%282012-08-09%29.jpg
We've recently updated our search algorithms, so you're going to get fewer results, but those results will be more accurate.
To narrow down your results even further, here are some tips on how to get more relevant search results.
In our search results, we include results that are related to your search terms, but are not an exact match. For example, search for ‘consulting’ and you’ll see tenders for ‘consultation’ and ‘consult’. This usually makes o...
Better search: Tip 5 - Location search
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Traquair_House_Maze.jpg
We've recently updated our search algorithms, so you're going to get fewer results, but those results will be more accurate.
To narrow down your results even further, here are some tips on how to get more relevant search results.
If you run a local business, you won’t want to see results from all over the country, just ones that are in your area. Our location search means you can restrict your search results to your area.
However, buyers aren’t always very good at explaining wh...
Better search: Tip 6 - Search for a specific buyer
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/7/77/Pebbleswithquarzite.jpg/1024px-Pebbleswithquarzite.jpg
We've recently updated our search algorithms, so you're going to get fewer results, but those results will be more accurate.
To narrow down your results even further, here are some tips on how to get more relevant search results.
Sometimes you might want to see the tenders from a specific buyer, for example, when you know that a specific Government Department is about to advertise something relevant to you.
We use a strict search for buyer names, which means we only show results where the ...
Better search: Tip 7 - Search for types of buyer
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/69/Old_skool.jpg
We've recently updated our search algorithms, so you're going to get fewer results, but those results will be more accurate.
To narrow down your results even further, here are some tips on how to get more relevant search results.
If you want to sell to a certain type of buyer, say local government or NHS Trusts, you can use the buyer search to restrict your results.
Some broad search terms will help you restrict your search to certain types of buyer.
To find local government buyers, searc...
Why transparency is good for government and its suppliers.
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Lemons_(5836497465).jpg
A rigged system? Corruption in European government buying
Spend Network
Spend Network features in this new article from the Economist on the scale of corruption in public sector procurement in Europe.
37 businessmen and former politicians are on trial in Spain for directing public sector construction contracts to favoured companies in return for kickbacks including callgirls and Caribbean holidays. The cost to the taxpayer is estimated at €120 million.
Meanwhile, Britain’s Nuclear Decommissioning Authority was found to have blocked an American compan...
10 Expert Recommendations for Selling to Government
Pixabay
If you’re an SME wanting to learn how to sell to the UK government, there are few better people to ask than John Fernau. John was the head of procurement for the London Olympics before running procurement for the Home Office. He has now moved to the private sector where his company, Fernau Solutions, offers assistance and support to sell to government.
On Thursday 8th of September, John spoke at a breakfast event organised by Open Opps on Winning Government Business. John provided &nbs...
Completing Tenders - Analysis of Contracts Finder
By Dumitru Rotari. Original uploader was Bogdan salaj at ro.wikipedia - Transferred from ro.wikipedia; transferred to Commons by User:Kurpfalzbilder.de using CommonsHelper., CC BY 2.5, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=5055341
When the new Contracts Finder was launched in February 2015, public sector buyers in England and Wales were required to publish all tenders opportunity notices worth over £25,000. Central government departments and its agencies are required to publish opportunities over £10,000. The opportunities are in every category including construction, recruitment and ICT. Once the buyers have received bids and awarded a contract, buyers are required to publish details of the cont...
Why good procurement data does more than fight corruption
By National Renewable Energy Laboratory, U.S. Department of Energy - https://sam.nrel.gov/files/content/documents/pdf/DOE%20Forrestal%20Building%20Rooftop%20PV.pdf ; page 1, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=20001886
Much of the focus of the Open Contracting Data Standard (OCDS) has rightly been on the capacity for open data to act as a mechanism for countering fraud, but effective use of the data standard has the capacity to improve operational procurement both within government and externally with its suppliers. Adhering to the standard greatly improves the ability to move, compare and analyse procurement data, it makes record keeping more effective and strengthens the quality of data held on cont...
Winning Government Business - Breakfast Event
Pixabay
Open Opps helps find opportunities for your business to sell to government.
On the 8th of September, join us at Sussex Innovaton, Croydon for a free breakfast with John Fernau & Emma Jones.
John Fernau:
-
Former Head of Procurement for the Olympic Delivery Authority
-
Delivery of a huge range of procurements including on and off park construction, park wide logistics and security, transport, security and other corporate professional services.
-
Former Commercial Direc...
How to engage small business, guidance for public sector buyers
Image credit: Pixabay
Bringing more SMEs into the supply chain requires only small changes in the way buyers operate, but it is an initiative that can’t be ‘tacked on’ to a procurement. Making a tender friendly to SMEs (small and medium enterprises) is something that has to be considered at the outset of the project. Here are ten steps that buyers can implement to help them open up their procurements to SMEs.
-
Don’t let contracts that are out of the scope of small business. The size of ...
Bid managers
Image credit: deathtothestockphoto.com
Winning Government Business - Open Opps at the Innovation Eat Up
Sussex Innovation, Croydon
Ian Makgill of Open Opps shows how to find the right opportunities to win government business. You can watch his talk here and view the slides here.
Open Opps works from Sussex Innovation Centre in Croydon, which helps innovative businesses to grow. One way they do this is through running monthly ‘Eat-Ups’, lunchtime sessions where you can learn new ways to improve your business. In July, Ian Makgill, founder of Open Opps, and Terri Hudson of Baker Wanless gave a presenta...
How to Implement OCDS — What publishers need to know
Image credit: Deathtothestockphoto
In one year’s time, all UK government contract data for contracts administered by a central purchasing authority, the Crown Commercial Service, will be published to the Open Contracting Data Standard (OCDS). OCDS is a format for openly publishing public contract data. It guarantees uniformity in this data, making it easy for anyone to compare contract data and scrutinise public contracting.
This scrutiny means OCDS makes corruption much more difficult. This is vitally important be...
Introducing Open Opps
Image credit: Openopps.com
At Spend Network, we’ve been gathering public tenders for over five years. Now we’re making them available for everyone to search for free. Forever.
That’s why we’ve launched Open Opps: https://openopps.com.
Open Opps is the only place where you can view the world’s tenders for free. We publish tenders from across the globe openly, so you can access a world of opportunities.
We want to make public procurement opportunities open to all. We believe assisting mor...
The 6 golden rules for selling to Government
By Nelson Minar — Flickr, CC BY-SA 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=17458582
Globally, public sector contract spending is $9.5 trillion a year (£6.54 trillion). This is a great opportunity for all kinds of businesses from consultancies to caterers, so naturally there is no shortage of advice available. After reviewing dozens of these articles, we’ve stripped them down to these golden rules:
1. Know the rules
Before getting started, you must understand the the basic rules governing how to bid for government tenders. Policy papers guide everyt...
Success for Open Contracting at Anti-Corruption Summit
Image credit: www.gov.uk
Public procurement is particularly vulnerable to corruption. $9.5 trillion a year is spent on public contracts and the Omidyar Network estimates that around 60% of the world’s bribes centre around public contracts.
Open Contracting gathers support
Open Contracting advocates were celebrating success at the close of the Global Anti-Corruption Summit held in London last week. 14 countries, Afghanistan, Argentina, Bulgaria, Colombia, France, Georgia, Ghana, Italy, Malta, Mexico, N...
Opening up tender notice data
Image credit: Deathtothestockphoto
We’re working on a new project to open up tender notice data. We know that there are already a bunch of services offering aggregated tender notices, but we feel that many of them are missing a crucial point: that this data will, increasingly become open.
It is not sustainable for software companies to exercise their copyright over the material published by Government, if you are searching for a construction contract or a cleaning tender, you have the right to access that information in t...
Why is it so hard to find public sector opportunities?
Image credit: US Navy Archives Personnel, Bess Glenn in foreground, August 14, 1942. (catalog.archives.gov/id/3493249)
Why is it so hard to find public sector tender opportunities?
Why is it so hard to find the right public sector tender opportunity for your business? We’ve been looking at some of the reasons.
1. There’s a lot of them
We estimate that there are around 2,500 tenders published a week by UK public sector; working on a rolling eight week programme, means that there will be 20,000 live tenders at any given moment. That is a non-trivial amount of data to process without speci...
Why the Open Contracting Data Standard matters
Image credit: Unfinished Monorail Suspension Bridge, Malaysia (https://www.flickr.com/groups/urbex-malaysia/)
Open Contracting, a project to encourage the open publication of public sector contracting data, is working to establish a data standard for contracting and procurement data (http://standard.open-contracting.org/). Much of this work has been done by the prolific and highly talented Tim Davies, who is breathing life into the standard.
We’re strong advocates of the standard and will soon be publishing all of the tender data we gather openly and in a format that complies with the sta...
