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Scots business in with a sporting chance

The London Olympics offers huge potential for businesses across the country and could provide a stepping stone for Scottish companies to capitalise on the opportunities created by the 2014 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow.

Jillian Moffat of Scottish Enterprise, who spoke at a recent procurement lunch and learn session organised by the Chamber, revealed just how much there is still to play for in London 2012.

“It brings with it a huge opportunity for businesses,” she said. “The recognised portal for London 2012 contract supply chain opportunities is ‘Compete For’ which a one-stop shop. You profile your company details and it acts like a dating agency. It matches suppliers to buyers and buyers to suppliers and is completely transparent up until the point where the system itself pulls through those organisations which best match the buyers' questions.

“It is only at that point in the procedure that the companies see who the buyers are. And then they go into the buyers’ own procurement processes and that is obviously where the due diligence takes place.

“The Olympic Delivering Authority (ODA) had £6 billion to spend and there is still £1 billion plus available because not all of the £5 billion which has already been let has cascaded all the way through the supply chain.

“For example McAlpines won a contract for the village and they appointed Balfour Beatty to do the aquatic centre. Balfour Beatty is now letting contracts down the supply chain.

“There are still great opportunities for Scottish companies.”

She said the London Organising Committee for the Olympic and Paralympic Games (LOCOG) responsible for staging the games has a £700 million budget. Eight sector teams are currently working on strategies and throughout this year all the service contracts will be let.

“They will need everything from flowers, meat, milk, water, to temporary chairs, portable toilets and barriers. It is huge, it crosses every sector and I would expect Scottish companies to win more of the opportunities lower down the supply chain. Scotland has 43 companies which have already won games related contracts. Barr Construction won the contract, worth tens of millions, to build the basketball arena, the biggest temporary structure on site.

“The others include Weldex from Inverness which is supplying cranes to the site; Mason Land Surveys, which is headquartered in Dunfermline; and Alpha Translation and Interpreting Services, an Edinburgh based firm which only employs 15 people and won a contract to translate documents.

“We want to see many more Scottish companies winning Olympic work which could stand them in good stead of securing a 2014 contract. They only want to pick companies which can deliver so if you have experience of one Games you have a shoe-in for the next. We are trying to encourage businesses to cut their teeth on 2012. Even if they don’t win a contract it will put them in a better place to get to 2014.

“The two main new venues are the Village, which went to the consortium City Legacy, and the National Indoor Sports Arena and Velodrome which went to McAlpines and between now and the end of the year they will flow down quite a lot of their supply chain opportunities.

“Although the Commonwealth Games is smaller it is here on our doorstep and gives us a brilliant opportunity to showcase Scotland not only in terms of being able to deliver a great sporting event, which we already have international recognition for, but also our products and services, the technology we can develop, the hospitality we can give, and two billion viewers will be tuned into the Commonwealth Games so we can’t get it wrong.”

For more information log on to:

www.competefor.com

Can you supply 2 gov?

Also of interest to SMEs will be the UK government’s Supply2.gov.uk portal, wich is the only official government lower-value contract opportunity portal, created specifically to provide small businesses with visibility of public sector contract opportunities typically below £100,000.

The portal is the first major initiative to unite buyers and suppliers in a single location, making it easier for business and government to work together. Since its launch, Supply2.gov.uk has provided small businesses throughout the UK with visibility of in excess of 150,000 contract opportunities nationwide.

Supply2.gov.uk is free for public sector buyers to advertise lower-value contract notices and free for private sector suppliers to access UK-wide lower-value contracts via the Online Contract Search. Suppliers can additionally benefit from the Contract Alert service in a free location of their choice.

The Supply2.gov.uk Contract Alert is an annual subscription-based service which provides quick, hassle-free notification of new contract opportunities via a Daily Email Alert.

In particular the portal can:

Provide access to a wider range of potential suppliers, who can offer you greater innovation and value for money

Reduce the time taken to assemble tender lists

Encourage greater competition

Facilitate better communication with other buyers active in similar areas

Offer suppliers free access to national contract opportunities

AGCC have developed a full day training programme to reflect the demand for skills in the procurement arena. ‘Creating Successful Tenders’ is a 1 day training programme improving delegates confidence in producing proposals/tenders, which stand out from the competition. For more information on the programme, visit www.agcc.co.uk/training.