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Government To Publish £50bn Of Public Projects, Reform Procurement

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Huffington Post UK   First Posted: 20/11/11 09:14 GMT Updated: 20/11/11 10:11 GMT

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The government is to reform how it works with the private sector in a new package of measures to be announced on Monday. More than £50bn worth of opportunities to work with the public sector will be released online, according to the Cabinet Office.

Government procurement is highly inefficient and is cutting domestic suppliers out of contracts, while uncertainty over the public sector's buying decisions mean that companies are unable to invest in their supply chains, the Cabinet Office said.

"The current system isn’t working," Francis Maude, the minister for the Cabinet Office said. "UK-based suppliers are finding themselves excluded, opportunities for growth are missed due to the public sector’s timidity and carrying out a procurement in the UK costs over twice as much as in France. This is wrong from every point of view."

Potential contracts with a value of more than £50bn will be published on Monday, based on forecasts of the government's requirements across a range of sectors, including IT and facilities management. By April, other departments will publish schedules for other major construction and infrastructure projects.

The government hopes that by giving potential suppliers information on future requirements it will give companies an impetus to invest in new facilities and staff.

Maude will be traveling to Brussels on Monday in order to negotiate with the EU "for a radical simplification of the relevant directives", the Cabinet Office said.

"While other countries manage to settle down and develop long-term relationships with business – this country appears to have taken a rather less successful overly formal and legalistic approach, failing to think beyond the immediate contract and failing to adequately support our businesses. We look forward to working with businesses on our new approach," Maude said.

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The government is to reform how it works with the private sector in a new package of measures to be announced on Monday. More than £50bn worth of opportunities to work with the public sector will be ...
The government is to reform how it works with the private sector in a new package of measures to be announced on Monday. More than £50bn worth of opportunities to work with the public sector will be ...
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Jeromepenn
0 Fans
11:36 AM on 11/22/2011
A clear underlying motivation beyond the procurement shake-up goes further than just helping domestic industry, by cutting up contracts into manageable chunks and shortening the bidding process, the reforms are aimed at helping SMEs. According to Mark Rogerson of Serco ‘it can take months or even years for contracts to move from tender to completion and bid outputs can be onerous’, this may be manageable for larger companies but it is ‘one of the UK’s biggest obstacles for small businesses’. They simply do not have the infrastructure or resources to handle that. Interesting read about SMES and procurement at http://bit.ly/pMM5cm
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HUFFPOST SUPER USER
Blockem1
When will our politicians start putting policies
194 Fans
 
10:59 PM on 11/20/2011
Pure claptrap , more red tape , more waste and not one blind bit of difference to the UK economy , Why dont they focus on the tax dogging companies and remove income tax for those earning less than £25,000 which would soon get the economy going, They fail probably because most of them are millionaires and cant comprehend that 95% of people have less and less money every month to spend thanks to ever increasing prices , ever increasing taxes and the complete lack of any sensible polices not to mention shamefully doing nothing to help the young unemployed. Will they ban any company or director that uses these offshore tax avoidance centers from the tendering process............. i doubt it they are weak,rotten and clueless .
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Sickofpoliticians2
245 Fans
05:01 PM on 11/20/2011
was this one of the reasons one of their very first announcements were to award the train building contract overseas, then sheffield forgemasters were backstabbed too, these new contracts will be farmed out to their tory chums too, can't see many SME's getting in on the act unless they actually pay the government something then work for nothing till they go under.
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wood773
20 Fans
04:39 PM on 11/20/2011
you just dont get it do you. this is another coalition move to put more of your money into private companies banks.Who will pay the bosses more and the share holders more,thereby enriching tory voters more.So hasnt the coalition looked after the loyal tory voters,off coarse it has.
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broncohardman
66 Fans
04:35 PM on 11/20/2011
Westminster, is currently being run by our clueless Coalition Administration, for at every turn now this Con - Demned Government is making the Poor pay for every mistake the UK Rich have made while further in taking every step necessary to destroy the living standards of all those within the British Working Classes.

This carry on of course, is further cementing the views of the Region's within the Union, whereby in Scotland there is a clear growing body of opinion that is realising that while being part of the problem of being under a Self Style Dictatorship Rule, that is Cameron's Self Conserve Elitist Nazi Party of the Far Right, and Rich only, which is now today far more removed, and further away from the life style's being lived in Scotland, since rather than having Power Devolved downwards from the Centre of Westminster, which work for the vast majority of the Scottish People, Policy decision's being forced upon Holyrood by Westminster, that are NOT in any medium to long - term interest, or benefit to Scotland, or it's People, for once Scotland starts to refuse Westminster's Far Right Wing Policies, then many also in England will join in the fight for a more fairer UK Society, along with a far reaching need too re-distribute the growing vast excess amounts of Wealth currently being amassed in Off Shore Bank Account's in places like the Cayman Islands, by Cameron and his Company of 21 Front Bench Multi Millionaire team within the Westminster
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ashootist
28 Fans
04:25 PM on 11/20/2011
They will be taxing wet dreams next
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Joe Joe P
39 Fans
03:14 PM on 11/20/2011
So its too late then for a certain french car manufacturer then? Heard a large number of employees got a lovely Xmas present. 6000 sacked is that right? Not sure if its all in this country but even so just goes to show the damage of cuts and the euro are doing!!!!
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1greywolf
1 Fans
01:10 PM on 11/20/2011
and our goverment relinquishes control again dont they get it when your broke you do it your self not through money at the private sector allow them to get contracts go bust and do a runner or sell out to a foriegn company which closes the factory in this contry. Consider how much money has been given to the energy companies for greener energy and what have they done with it payed their share holders. the private sector should support public sector work not do it as the need for a 30% prifit margin is unaffordable which makes share holders unaffordable to the goverment, why they cannot see this is beyond me
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nicholspongo
23 Fans
12:47 PM on 11/20/2011
Being as I run a small business I am in the position of being able to say that in real terms we are being hammered by both the banks and the government, so much so I am going to chuck it in and work for Teso's, as there is no future for small up and comming businesses while the tillerless ship called the UK is being steered by the clueless.
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Roy Fowler
I try....I really do!
106 Fans
11:06 AM on 11/20/2011
"The current system isn’t working," Francis Maude, the minister for the Cabinet Office said. "UK-based suppliers are finding themselves excluded....from access to part of the possible £50 BILLION of procurement"
Seriously how hard have we made it for ourselves when comments like this are made? Do you think any other EU Government is saying stuff like this to its people?

Are we to assume that most of our governments current procurement comes from abroad? Are we shipping crates of paper clips from Prague? Do daily flights of Italian photo copier paper pass smoothly through customs, just behind the latest instalment of 25,000 Blue and Black biros from France?

And then we read;
Maude will be traveling to Brussels on Monday in order to negotiate with the EU "for a radical simplification of the relevant directives"..........I expect whilst she is there, she can also check in with the Belgium supplier of the House of Commons Christmas Cards and their shipment of "You must be mad to work here" 2012 Parliamentary Calendars?
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