Both Buckinghamshire Business First and the County’s MPs’ often hear from local SMEs who are frustrated by the complexities of tendering for work with our local authorities, so this meeting was designed to work through these frustrations and find ways to move forward.

The value of work available from Public Sector organisations presents a big opportunity for local businesses and Buckinghamshire’s economy in general when you factor in that 63p of every £1 spent locally remains in the local economy. (FSB publication: ’Local Procurement’ 2013)

The local authorities have all committed to supporting a vibrant local economy in the corporate strategies but pointed out that it would be illegal to hand out contracts based solely on where a business is based and argued that large suppliers are often used as they can underwrite the risk involved.  

Buckinghamshire County Council acknowledged that they are working with their large primary or Tier 1 suppliers to encourage them to look to local SMEs and local staff and apprentices to fill vacancies.

One bone of contention that businesses present mentioned is the Pre-Qualification Questionnaire (PQQ) which is used to select a shortlist of bidders from those who express an interest. Businesses complain that submitting the forms is akin to an ‘Olympic event’ with different requirements across the five councils, something that was acknowledged amid uniform agreement that the process needs simplifying. 

Contracts secured by Buckinghamshire businesses create a domino effect across the county, with jobs created and social regeneration boosted. One of the business representatives in attendance, Nick Coleman of Medical Supermarket explained 'Our business is fit enough to supply KFC but we struggle to break through the barriers to supply our local public sector. We recently accessed a growth grant of £5,000 through BBF which will enable us to create two new jobs, imagine how many jobs we could create if it was simpler to get into the public sector supply chain.”

Philippa Batting, Managing Director of Buckinghamshire Business First, spoke about the need for all parties to work together to enable all public and private sector opportunities to be easily identified by SMEs in Buckinghamshire. “Buckinghamshire Business First is committed to helping SMEs become contract ready. It is great to hear that the local authorities recognise the need for collaboration and simpler processes. We now need the commitment to proactively look at making change happen. We are currently working in partnership on a solution to address the key issues using enabling technology to increase awareness of public procurement opportunities and hope to have good news for our business members in the months to come.”

We would like to hear from more of our members on this issue so if you would like to be involved in further discussions around the subject of Public Procurement or would like to share your experiences please email us on membership@bbf.uk.com