Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by GeniUS! on February 8, 2012 at 10:18

Challenge #3 is now open. Whether your an owner of a small or medium business, an employee or budding entrepenuer, we want to here your ideas as to how the Council improve it's working relationships with local & small business.

Permalink Reply by Simon Young on February 8, 2012 at 13:33

Whilst we all want openness in the procurement process, most SMEs do not have the time or resources for a long bidding process. They will simply enter another market to sell their goods and services

Permalink Reply by Heather Niven on February 8, 2012 at 23:54

How would you shorten it?

I was wondering about an online submission form that auto-fills all your basic details, saved from when you register 1st time, so all you have to complete is your product/service solution?  What do you reckon would help?

Permalink Reply by Katie Stewart on February 10, 2012 at 8:17

This is an excellent point, Simon - something that we do need to do everything we can to minimise.  There are obviously regulations within which we have to work, but within these parameters, there is hopefully some room for streamlining. 

Another related point is the amount of paperwork that businesses often find themselves having to produce for procurement processes and the extent to which these requirements vary from public sector organisation to organisation.  Although ambitious, it would be great to see some level of coordination between public sector organisations in terms of procurement requirements.

Permalink Reply by Antony Powell on February 22, 2012 at 14:04

FWIW, we are York-based SME who haven't contracted with the Council as we usually deal with Government and large blue-chip clients. I would be happy to do an experiment and go through the procurement process, measuring how long it takes and reporting back on our experience. That may give a baseline and possibly identify areas for streamlining.

Permalink Reply by Heather Niven on February 8, 2012 at 23:49

Hi ,

I Had a look over the draft procurement doc and it is really encouraging!! Some bold steps and a real shift in the right direction - great stuff.

One thing I would suggest to make it even better would be to think about a 'germination pot' - a small amount of money put aside to use to trial, pilot or prototype new ideas, when it isn't a straightforward procurement ask.  The procurement model could then sometimes operate more like the 'idea generation then refinement' process that is taking place in this GeniUS project.  Do a test bed, pilot first with the 2 top company bids for the work, then afterwards pick the one you want to go with.  This may also allow very small businesses who are either under 3 years trading or not ltd. to 'prove themselves' through a pilot? It would de-risk more radical ideas and might result in better solutions?  

The type of process, i.e. either straightforward procurement of one supplier, vs the pilot of 2 and then contracting of one, could be made clear on the web site when procurement opportunities are placed up.

It would also allow for time to tweak the product/services developed during the initial pilot phase to better fit the specific circumstances here in York.  Lastly it would encourage competition, would build relationships between suppliers and the council through closer working.

Is it do-able within the EU regs?  What do you think?

p.s. one last thought before I get off the platform.  If you have a procurement plan finalised 12-18 months in advance, how can you plan for procuring things that haven't been identified yet?  I know in education right now their problem is that they are having to teach courses to students for jobs that haven't been invented yet, everything is moving so fast now, so maybe a bit of flexibility in future procurement 12-18 months away would allow for new tech/ideas to be exploited? ok I am gone...

Permalink Reply by Katie Stewart on February 10, 2012 at 8:10

Some good ideas, Heather - and would inject a bit of the private sector approach to funding innovative ideas into the council.  We'll have to check against the EU regs as you suggest, but it could more readily demonstrate a willingness from the Council to encourage innovation. 

Permalink Reply by Heather Niven on February 16, 2012 at 22:45

What is the lowest amount of budget for procurement to be straight forward? Is it under £3k for 3 quotes? can you break down products/services into smaller projects?

Permalink Reply by caseymorrison on February 13, 2012 at 21:02

Money for social value already exists - normally through small grant funders, but doesn't fulfill the whole need. Using procurement to start new things, strengthen ideas or give backing to things that are going to take some time is a great idea. Start by releasing info on £5,000 contracts (this is rediculiously difficult right now) and let the info seep out. Give it some public transparency without making it into the full blown participatory budgeting process. keep it simple, keep it quick and you'll get some different ideas coming through..

For my 2p, I'd recommend this article on pro-social procurement.. https://socialenterprise.guardian.co.uk/social-enterprise-network/2... 

Permalink Reply by Katie Stewart on February 15, 2012 at 7:43

Some interesting approaches in the link, Casey - these examples make it clear that it is indeed possible to work within legislation to achieve a better system/ethos of procurement.  One of the debates is how to enable more local businesses to get involved in procurement opportunities - and some of these ideas are a useful starting point - working from the sustainability angle - of achieving this. 

Permalink Reply by Kersten Elizabeth England on February 15, 2012 at 12:44

How about identifying the products and services York businesses are selling into emergent markets and providing accompanying material on the wider york offer? A short high quality concertina card with QR code and website address? Objectives - visitor economy, inward investment and export growth.

Permalink Reply by Antony Powell on February 22, 2012 at 13:56

I like this wider 'business catalogue' idea (see my other post on this topic). Performing a 'census' of goods and service providers would have a number of benefits beyond Council (B2G) procurement - for example in stimulating local business-to-business (B2B) trade, procurement and even partnering (e.g. for EU bids). It could also stimulate inward investment and even export opportunities. The trick is providing a coherent catalogue of rich product/service descriptions, combined with a search engine capability, somewhat richer than the existing local listings.

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