Selling to Government
What are the benefits of selling to government?
There are many advantages to be gained from winning government contracts. First of all, public sector organisations are good customers. Government tenders require a supplier to be chosen fairly, honestly and in a professional way. Public sector organisations are less likely to be subject to fluctuations in the market and local governments pay promptly and in line with agreed contract terms.
Public sector organisations have to pay accounts within 30 days (or any other agreed credit period) of receiving a valid bill or invoice and you may also find that winning government tenders can give your company added credibility with other private sector customers.
Finally, and perhaps more importantly, it is expected that public sector spending will exceed £125 billion this year*. With thousands of private sector organisations bidding to win their share of the lucrative government contracts and tenders market, its worth considering that some of these may be your competitors.
*Source: www.cips.org
How to tender for government contracts
If you decide to bid for a government contract there will be a fixed process with a set timetable. Each government tender will have a set of deadlines for the receipt of required information which you must adhere to. If these deadlines are missed, your bid for a government tender may be automatically rejected.
In many cases, the first step to winning a government contract is to complete a formal expression of interest. You may be asked to provide details of your previous experience, references and most importantly, financial details; so be prepared with accounts for the previous two to three years. This allows government buyers to quickly determine which companies will be able to fulfil their contract requirement.
Select – procurement services
To manage your expressions of interest and pre-qualifying information you can use our supplier information and procurement service – Select – allowing you to complete and send your profile electronically to the buyer. Your Select profile can, if you wish, be viewed by over eight thousand buyers registered across the public sector.
Find out more about our procurement services, including Select.
