Welcome to this week’s edition of the Keystone Column. The public sector is cranking into gear after the seasonal end of year break. This week we highlight new opportunities for public sector bids, emerging stories and some electronic trends to keep an eye out for in 2016 that can help drive business growth in the world of procurement and beyond it.
Business stories
The ESB has flagged three large categories of expenditure to current and prospective suppliers on e-tenders for future public procurement contests. These cover construction (works), supplies and services. The breadth of what is being sought is very extensive. Requirements for public sector bids will emerge from this prior information notice over the course of the next twelve months.
Complex public sector bids new to the market: There are some complex public sector bids up this week in the public procurement world such as the design and operation of a bail monitoring service for young offenders and a property management solution for social housing, private housing and halting sites in Kilkenny. Creative, expansive thinking is often necessary for opportunities such as these. These public sector bid opportunities often favour (at least in part) a smaller, agile, innovative company over large multinationals so companies on the lookout for business growth opportunities should assess these tenders in detail.
Interesting trends
The procurement of complex services is a frequent challenge for businesses. It is also a challenge for public procurement buyers seeking innovative solutions to complex problems. This report, which is downloadable upon registration, offers a step-by-step guide to purchasing complex services. SMEs or consortiums of SMEs (as internationally they tend to win these contests) can benefit from understanding what high performing procurement professionals are likely to do. They can align their design approach with what is likely to be the procurement process in their public sector bids, influencing the outcome.
Modern slavery has once again come into focus. The UK has moved ahead with its crack down on modern slavery in supply chains (to protect compliant businesses). We wrote about this subject recently here. More can be done in the Irish market to ensure there are invasive investigations and avenues for the reporting of non-compliant supply chains. There are clothing and other supply contracts including cleaning services out to consultation at the moment – these are high-risk categories. Those bidding should consider getting the public buyers on record (via the Q&A function/facility) as to how they intend on ensuring any successful bidder will be compliant with all workplace and labour related requirements at all stages of their supply chain.
Innovation – things we have seen and like
In the week that the Consumer Electronic Show (CES) took place in the USA, procurious published this article on four trends it expects to see emerge over the next 12 months.
Note: we are in the sourcing & procurement business. We highlight things we like or that are novel or innovative. We seek neither compensation nor recognition for doing this. We are fully paid up members of the pay it forward mindset. Innovators should be encouraged. If you see something that you think is interesting or novel please let us know so we can consider featuring it here.
New tenders this week
Visit the Keystone website to view our take on the tenders published this week if you are in any of the following sectors. Keystone can advise any company as to whether they are well positioned to bid for these opportunities. We can also assist any company that is considering the submission of a bid:
- Construction and related trades,
- Professional & Advisory Services,
- Supplies (many opportunities across a vast range of products),
- ICT supplies and services,
- Training,
- Financial services (insurance),
- Irish language TV production,
- Property & facilities management,
- Vehicle & automotive,
- Other services and supplies.
Keystone E-tenders Report 04_01 – 14_01 (midday)
Please note, e-tenders frequently miscategorises opportunities so people relying on e-tender alerts could easily miss out on opportunities if they are dependent on it. E-tenders is only as reliable as the people inputting tenders onto it and mistakes are made very frequently. The Keystone Column includes all live tenders posted on e-tenders since January 4th 2016.
