Breaking into Direct to Public Sector?

[nobody here but us chicke]

hmmm

The only large public sector contracts that I have seen from the negotiation/award side were... how to put this ?....

not quite as straight as they might be ?


How good is your golf and do you have an office in the bahamas where all negotiations must take place?

[Flash]

S-Cat Change



ISO9001 accreditation is useful, but not a pre-requisite: if we could show that we were at least looking for accreditation then that could be okay. A common environmental policy that we all sign-up to would also be good, and easy to do, and perhaps we could initiate ISO14000 accreditation.

S-CAT listing is not required: it is being superceded. It is this son-of-s'cat that we would be trying to get into.

I would hope that any consortium member could demonstrate three years expertise (what have you been up to since you left school?).

Five years detailed accounts should not be a problem.

Again, we do not need OGC approval as a pre-requisite, since it is this that we are applying for.

Most of our contractor-companies have no borrowings: our debt-equity ratio is very healthy and we could expect to be able to borrow against any contract to ease cashflow.

Neverthless, I agree it is next to impossible to achieve

However, all we have to do is fill in one form as a group and send it off in the next couple of weeks. The cost-benefit analysis is pretty good here!

Further:
a) Good experience. Perhaps next time the opportunity comes round, we will have a stronger case and an existing network ...
b) Another brick in the defence-wall against IR35. We would clearly be acting on a commercial basis ...

[malvolio]

All for it

All you need is ISO9001 accreditation, S-CAT listing, three years demonstrable expertise in delivering similar programmes to the same requirement, five years access to your detailed accounts, OGC approval and suffieicient uncommitted fundss to deliver th entire piece of work without payment. Plus, of course, references and appropriate history. Then repeat for each of your consortium members individually, and any sub-contractor companies you intend to use.

Not that HMG try to make it difficult or anything...

Seriously, good luck anyway - if you can do it, I'll be right behind you waving the flag. But after several years trying to do just what you propose, it is next to impossible to achieve

[Flash]

I am trying to find out if any other contractors out there are interested in forming a consortium to offer services to the public sector.

The chances of this coming off are small: however I fail to see why the likes of Accenture and Capita should fleece local and central government yet consistently fail to deliver! This is our money (as tax-payers) that authorities are wasting.

I would like to offer an alternative from the contract market ...

The window of opportunity closes in a few weeks so it needs to be quick.

Complaints about agencies pale into insignificance compared to how much 'mark-up' the large consultancies add to the provision of our services!