When "free" doesn't mean "easy". Why Public Sector work is not on our agenda

The recent suggestion by Baroness Vadera, the business minister, to make access to public sector contracts via www.supply2.gov.uk free of charge is a generous but fairly empty gesture.

OK, we might save c£180 per year but this is a small amount compared to the cost of actually trying to get public sector work.  The completion of the forms and the writing of tender documents costs £,000s.

We want to see an easier tendering process.  We want to see one standard Pre Qualification Questionnaire that we complete once per year and which is available for all in public sector procurement to see. 

And, we want to be treated with a bit of respect.  You get all excited about a possible piece of work and then you read "must demonstrate experience of public sector work".  I now know what a school leaver feels like "can't get a job because I've got no experience ... can't get experience because I can't get a job"

I called one local authority to ask why I needed public sector experience to run a customer service training course.  I got the telephone equivalent of a pat on the head and a  "you just wouldn't understand..."

Perhaps is just hard for those of us selling services.  If I supply a product to a local authority I can match the specification they require and as long as I'm the cheapest, I've probably got a fair chance of the business.  But with services its not so clear cut.

So we will continue to survive and thrive in the private sector.  Thanks for the generous £180 saving - but no thanks.

Read our comments in recent Daily Telegraph article: http://tinyurl.com/q8fs7f

Thanks also to Argo Business Blog for the mention: http://tinyurl.com/kpv5gz