Since the COVID-19 crisis began, our parent company, BiP Solutions, has harnessed its powerful database, business intelligence and data analysis services to do bring buyers and suppliers together during this time by releasing market reports weekly.
Although this is an uncertain time, BiP Solutions maintain within these reports that:
“What is clear is that the public sector is very much open for business and is issuing contract notices relevant to companies of all sizes.”
With lockdown lifting slightly and government, citizens and business all looking forward to a ‘new normal’, we reveal some of the key statistics from these reports and highlight areas of opportunity for suppliers below.
Framework opportunities
Despite the COVID-19 crisis, the public sector has ongoing requirements for a vast range of goods, works and services, offering a steady stream of work to suppliers of all sizes.
According to procurement leaders BiP Solutions:
“There were 37 new OJEU Framework Notices published during the week commencing 11 May. Frameworks made up 3.41% of contract notices published.”
While framework agreements make up a relatively small proportion of contract opportunities published, they are very influential.
Not only are they often very valuable – sometimes their total value is estimated in the billions of pounds – but they offer opportunities to multiple suppliers to win places on the framework and, with that, potential work for several years. Frameworks are also an ideal way for new suppliers and SMEs to bring themselves to the attention of public sector buyers.
Missing out on a place on a framework also reduces your ability to win business so tracking these increasingly common arrangements is now essential, that is why the Market Intelligence offered by Tracker can often be used in before a new framework is published.
Sector spotlight
The education sector has been one of the most significantly affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. The need first for lockdown and then for ongoing social distancing closed all education establishments and it is becoming clear that, for the foreseeable future, schools, colleges and universities will not be able to go back to the pre-pandemic normal.
BiP Solutions has revealed that the education sector consistently issues the second largest volume of contract notices each week after local government. Education covers everything from nurseries to universities, meaning that the sector has wide-ranging requirements, which offer opportunities to businesses of all sizes in almost all industry sectors.
The latest report from BiP Solutions, which focuses on education, states that:
“Spend in the sector has consistently had a total stated value of over £50 million weekly, while well over 50% of contract notices have not provided a value, making actual spend considerably higher.”
In recent years, The government’s investment into connectivity, digital and training has opened opportunities to SMEs looking for IT tenders. During the pandemic, the education sector has been asked to undertake a rapid transformation, with face to face learning in a group setting with a teacher/lecturer largely being replaced by online teaching delivered to students in their own homes. While buyers are not tendering in large volume for IT requirements, engagement with individual schools or academy trusts is proving fruitful for IT suppliers.
Find new opportunities with the public sector
Tracker is investing heavily to ensure that the latest opportunities are not only delivered straight to your inbox but that our customers equipped with the very latest in market intelligence. This enables our users to maintain and grow their pipeline in a market where opportunities are huge.
New to Tracker? Learn about how business intelligence can support your efforts to win more tenders with the public sector during a free live demo with a member of our expert procurement team.
