Despite what we keep being told, the public sector is not SME friendly, at least not in relation to the construction industry. At a recent "meet the buyer" event hosted by a local authority, we were encouraged to sit down with buyers from various sectors to pitch our services. The theory goes that we would have a unique opportunity to meet buying representatives of various organisations that usually are impossible to contact or hidden behind reams of PPQs. We could explain in detail our USPs, why we are well utilised in the Private Sector and what we could do to innovate.
However as it turned out, we didn't meet anyone that I would describe as a buyer. There was no-one interested in what we could do for them. Rather than the chance to meet buyers and give our pitch, it was more of an opportunity for the various organisations to explain their process of how to tender for jobs that they let out and the importance of PPQs. In other words we didn't meet the buyers as much as the gatekeepers. In our brief 10 minutes allocated with each body, the exchanges seemed to gravitate towards myself trying to explain what we thought of the PPQ process (not much) and the public sector bodies telling me that the process was necessary and fair. After meeting 5 separate organisations I'm still not convinced it is either necessary or fair, particularly for smaller projects.
I explained that a company of our size cannot afford to fill in reams of paperwork and provide stacks of accompanying information to tender for the smallest of jobs. For this task you need a dedicated person. Something we do not have. Furthermore even if we did have unlimited resources to complete the forms, we are often not close to meeting the minimum acceptance criteria. This present company does not yet have 3 years of profit and loss accounts. Nor do we have a gender reassessment policy. And anyway what does all that have to so with the ability to provide an innovative high quality and personal service to the client. I explained that we worked successfully for several large high profile private sector clients and on some sizable projects. They come back time and again for more work. Why is this not good enough for the public sector?
Our clients love the fact that the directors are hands on with the project. That we care deeply about what we do and how we do it. We may not be as financially substantial as the big boys but we make up for this in personal service, quick turnaround times, innovation and solid values at the right price. They love the innovation, and they are happy continuing these relationships. If not we would be out of a job. We are small and nimble and work with other small and nimble operators and contractors to provide a swift and efficient outcome for a smaller project.
By contrast, the very nature of the unwieldy public sector procurement route effectively leaves out the innovative approach and favours larger firms who have done it before and will do it the same again. Exactly the same. It reduces the design process to a series of tick-boxes and promotes stale and predictable design and service delivery. Compare the first few BSF projects which were individually procured, to the cheap looking and boxy ones that followed.
The PPQ culture is stifling small operators, it is stifling innovation and de-personalising the tender process to such an extent that the term "meet the buyer" is irrelevant. I felt at this meeting that I was just satisfying each organisations' own tick-box. The one that said "How often do you engage with local SMEs to procure work?". Well that one can be ticked off for another year at least.