What is a procurement framework?
So you want the opportunities to find you. You want to promote your business without putting any effort in - or at least you want some business coming to you instead of chasing it all the time. You may be fed up witll filling in Pre-Qualification Questionnaires (PQQ) and never getting selected, or a scatter gun approach to responding to tenders.
Congratulations! So do lots of people! Luckily, there are a lot of buyers out there who want to make sure they get responses from the best suppliers, and they set up procurement frameworks. Public sector organisations (with £270billion to spend) practically have to!
It gets better. Many procurement frameworks also create a community so you can find other companies who supply what you don't, so if the requirement is to broad for you, you can find someone to work with. WIN-WIN-WIN.
Even better, if you register for the right kinds of business, then you will get an email to tell you that something of interest has come up, for you to apply for. For example, the Official Journal of the European Union typically advertises around 3000 opportunities per day - so rather than searching through all of them, you just want to know what's relevant to you.
How to register on a procurement framework
Naturally, these high rolling buyers want to know something about you to decide if you even get a sniff at their high spending. I'm not just talking about public sector - many larger organisations also use procurement frameworks. So you need to invest a bit of time into putting your details on line in the format that the framework requires. Sometimes it's fairly simple and you get on easily, but then buyers ask for all sorts of information. Sometimes it's really hard work, and when you submit, then a panel takes up your references and checks out your company, and if you finally pass, then naturally you are one of the few who get special opportunities.
Which frameworks?
The first stage is to work out what procurement frameworks you want to be on. This is often simple enough
- how big are you? Do you want, and realistically are you going to win, multi-million pound or euro tenders? Don't waste time applying for things you can't win
- what industry are you in? If you are in construction, there are procurement frameworks that you cannot afford to miss, like Constructionline. If you are in engineering, oil and gas, or chemicals, then there are similar frameworks
- where are you based? Many procurement frameworks favour local companies so make sure you register with your most relevant local ones
When to register?
Then decide how quickly you are going to go through registering on all of these frameworks. You can't do it all at once, although once you have done one, you will find that future ones are much easier because you have already assembled the certificates, case studies, accounts, referees.
Types of frameworks
Basically there are two sorts of frameworks - those where you simply enter your details and you are on the system, and those which check your credentials before listing you as an approved supplier.
- Let you list: an example of this is the Official Journal of the European Union (OJEU) - if you read my previous blog then you'll know that all public bodies have to advertise all requirements over a certain level, most utilities and other services have to advertise, and many other organisations advertise too. THis is simply a service that records your interests, and lets you know whenever something you are interested in comes up. There's no limit who can apply for OJEU tenders, so there's no gateway to stop you from listing and getting notification.
- Qualified membership: an example of this is Constructionline. You submit your information, including previous years' accounts to demonstrate financial stability, case studies and referees, and the framework checks them out. It's about as much work as filling in a Pre-Qualification Questionnaire (PQQ) - ie quite a lot. If they approve you, then you can often display the procurement framework logo to show that you have been approved. More importantly, only a few get through so if you subsequently receive an invitation to tender, the requirement is something they know you can supply, and you've already got through the initial selection process
How to do it
First - don't panic. Like eating an elephant, decide what you can manage now.
I'd suggest you start working out your most relevant frameworks first - perhaps identify five with the help of colleagues and competitors in the industry, and use your networks (BNI, FSB).
Once you have identified them, print out the application form and work through what you need to complete. If you can, complete it, print out the result but don't submit. Have a look and decide "would this supplier appeal to me if I were a buyer?"
If it all sounds like too much, contact us!
