Pillar Four - Supplier Diversity and Procurement
The WETF wanted to support women to access new market opportunities and supply chains across the public and privates sectors; and for Corporates and Government to recognise the value of a diverse supply chain.
The Women's Enterprise Task Force, in conjunction with the Ethnic Minority Business Task Force, and the Department for Business 2012 team have delivered a series of one-day procurement roadshows across the regions. The roadshow events were designed to increase the knowledge base of diverse local businesses, and improve their ability to access corporate and public sector supply chains.
The Task Force is proud to have supported the establishment of WEConnect, an accreditation programme which aims to link women-owned businesses into corporate supply chains.
Glover Review of SME Access to Public Procurement
Key recommendations from the report following Anne Glover's independent inquiry into small and medium enterprises’ (SME) involvement in public sector procurement are:
- Single, free, easy to search online portal for SMEs to access procurement opportunities
- Brief, straightforward tender documentation issued electronically by 2010
- Details of contract awardees published online within 48 days of contract signature
- Flagging of tendering opportunities suitable for SMEs
- Qualification criteria that are not sector-specific to be standardised
- All previous relevant experience when bidding to be admissible, not just public sector experience
- Procurers to take a flexible approach on the process of prequalification or contract award
- Better use and alignment of procurement with Innovation Procurement Plans
- Wider use of outcome-based specifications across the public sector, as a means of driving innovation
- Subcontracting opportunities accessible through the single, online portal and conditions of work to be no worse than prime contractor
- All central government departments to report annually on the value of their contract spend with SMEs.
The Women’s Enterprise Task Force (WETF) welcomed this drive to help SMEs access procurement opportunities, which helps women-owned and led businesses in the SME sector.
Whilst the proposed target of 30% of all government contacts to be awarded to SMEs, specifically micro businesses, has not been set; the reasoning for this is that SMEs fear a target becoming a ceiling.
More needs to be done to secure the opportunities of women-owned businesses, particularly those in the micro and small businesses, who are still at risk of not benefiting as much as they should from public sector procurement. A model of good practice such as WEConnect should be encouraged through the implementation of Glover recommendations.
In many regions the CompeteFor website has worked well and has a mechanism to capture the gender ownership of a company. There is an opportunity here for the WETF to advocate that good practice garnered from CompeteFor be implemented in the single procurement portal which the Glover Review recommends, thus allowing for data disaggregation.
Following the publication of the Glover Report, and in consultation with stakeholders and businesses, Government has announced the introduction of a new FREE search service on Supply2.gov.uk. This will enable businesses to access details of contracts right across the UK without having to pay, bringing a greater level of transparency to the public procurement market.
For further information please visit the Supply2Gov website.
See also the National Policy Centre for Women's Enterprise report on Procurement.