In order to help the Government meet its target of having a third of spend with SMEs, the Crown Commercial Service is making it easier than ever for companies to supply to government through the launch of a new, simplified tender pack.
CCS has been working with partners including the CBI, Federation of Small Businesses, techUK and the Association of Bid Managers to design the new pack, which cuts the amount of tender documentation that suppliers need to complete.
Consisting of fewer, shorter tender documents, the pack sets out all the information required, in one place and in Plain English.
By moving full terms and conditions for all frameworks onto the website, numerous irrelevant terms and conditions are removed from the packs, leaving only those that directly apply to the goods or service being purchased.
The simplified bidder pack will now be rolled out to all relevant new agreements awarded in the coming months and years.
Sam Rowbury, CCS Director, Policy Delivery said: “The new bid pack will make it easier than ever for more suppliers, and particularly small and medium-sized enterprises, to work with government. It clearly and simply sets out the customer’s and CCS’s requirements, so that bidders can spend more time developing their best offer and less on red tape.
“We have already seen success in the first project, which resulted in 86 of the 121 successful suppliers on the new Cyber Security Services framework being SMEs. Many of those suppliers told us that the new pack was much easier to understand and use.”
Rob Driver, techUK’s Head of Public Sector Programme said: “Ongoing engagement between Government and industry enables public services to take advantage of innovative tech through having access to a wide range of suppliers.
“As a result of the detailed supplier and buyer engagement between techUK and CCS a more user friendly bidder pack has been developed. This will open up choice for public sector buyers, promote innovation and help the government achieve its target of 33% of procurement spend being awarded to SMEs.”
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