Government will now list contract opportunities online

In this day and age, it’s hard to imagine what life will be like without the Internet. Instead of going to the library, students log on the World Wide Web to do their research or even to send their assignments to their professors. Instead of spending more on print advertising, many firms are instead setting aside funds to expand their online presence and develop web sites so that customers can log on and make purchases online. And this is actually a smart move.

Recent research has shown that more and more Britons are now online. As expected, the percentage of the population in between the ages 16-24 who regularly access the Internet is the highest at 98.6%. The study was conducted by the Office for National Statistics (ONS), who released the results earlier this week. The study also found that around 300,000 more Britons were able to access the Internet for the first time since the three months from September, dropping the figure of those who still have not gone online to 8.43 million.

In this light, it makes perfect sense for the Government to reach out and allow more private companies a chance in obtaining government contracts. New measures will be unveiled in efforts to “revolutionise” how the government purchases goods or services from the private sector, which will include publishing potential business deals that are worth approximately £50 billion online.

The Cabinet Office has stated that it will be leaving an open door for current and prospective suppliers to go over procurement opportunities in order to facilitate the process. The government hopes that listing such contract opportunities online might be able to speed it up as well. Current complex procurement processes are normally completed at an average of 200 days; the government hopes to cut that figure down by 120 days when the new online system is in place.

Cabinet Office minister Francis Maude stated: “We need to make things better for business in the UK — the current system isn’t working. 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.”

He added: “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.”

Source – ZDNet