Key Facts

• Analysis by Spend Network found big corporations win almost 90% of contracts deemed suitable for SME bids, worth £30 billion annually.
• British Chambers of Commerce and Tussell research shows about 21% of public sector procurement spending went to SMEs in 2021.
• Local government bodies spent 38% of their procurement budget with SMEs, while central Government awarded only 11%.
• Colin Cram set up Open Forum Events Ltd to run conferences supporting improved public services.
• At the end of 2021, there were 5.5 million SMEs in the UK employing fewer than 50 people each with an average turnover of £1.25 million.
• Employing two full-time tenderers can increase a mid-cap business's win rate from 1 in 20 to 1 in 4.
• Clause 16 covers preliminary market engagement.
• Clause 17 includes provisions on related notice requirements.
• The purpose of the preliminary market engagement notice is to advertise the contracting authority's intention or completion of preliminary market engagement.
• Clause 16 gives local authorities the power to undertake pre-market engagement.
• Effective preliminary market engagement can improve contracting authorities' ability to act as an intelligent customer by understanding market capabilities and innovative solutions.
• The Bill emphasizes transparency and sharing information from such engagements across contracting authorities.
• Amendment 95 aims to ensure no public contract can be awarded without guarantee of Real Living Wage payment.
• Amendments 96, 97, and 98 prohibit contracting authorities from awarding contracts to suppliers not paying the Real Living Wage.
• Amendment 99 defines 'Real Living Wage' as hourly wage rates calculated annually by the Resolution Foundation overseen by the Living Wage Commission.
• Grants in Scotland from July require the real living wage.
• Scotland has fewer workers earning less than the real living wage compared to England.
• Scottish Government procurement contracts mandate payment of the real living wage since October 2021.
• The Procurement Reform (Scotland) Act 2014 was updated in 2022 to reflect changes.
• Labour calls for an end to age discrimination in wage policies.
• Amendments aim to ensure public contracts include fair pay and working conditions.
• An incoming Labour Government would instruct the Low Pay Commission to consider living costs when setting the minimum wage.
• Amendments 95 to 99 would legally require contracting authorities to include the real living wage in public contracts.
• The Government opposes these amendments, arguing they could lead to disproportionate outcomes and prefer existing legal requirements like the national minimum wage.
• Government amendment 30 allows procuring bodies to disregard tenders offering abnormally low prices if suppliers cannot prove performance capability.
• Amendments 30 and 31 are supported to enhance procurement rules.
• Contracting authorities must notify suppliers if their tender is considered abnormally low.
• Suppliers get a reasonable opportunity to demonstrate the workability of their tender before it is disregarded.
• Clause 20 sets out competitive tendering procedures with two options: an open procedure and a competitive flexible procedure.
• Zurich Insurance expressed concern over the lack of detail on how each procedure will operate in practice.
• Colin Cram's evidence highlights that the cost of putting in a tender can be significant for small businesses, potentially dissuading them from bidding.
• The Procurement Bill introduces a central digital platform containing public sector procurement information.
• Contracting authorities must publish tender notices and associated documents detailing procurement processes.
• During the COVID-19 pandemic, only 25% of 1,644 contracts worth over £25,000 were published within 90 days on Contracts Finder.
• Clause 22 enables contracting authorities to set conditions on suppliers' participation in procurement processes.
• Conditions must be related to legal and financial capacity and technical ability to fulfil contract requirements.
• Conditions should not be unnecessarily onerous for the supplier.