OJEU - Reform Required?

The sheer scope and complexity of the OJEU obviously brings with it certain difficulties (the journal is udated every working day in the 5 different languages of the EU). Some of the main issues with the OJEU that most business owners hav include:

• Volume - Due to the sheer volume of opportunities on offer, it can be difficult to locate those tenders which directly relate to your business needs and capabilities.
• Overlap - Many services and sectors overlap, therefore it can be difficult to locate individual categories within the journal that you may wish to focus on.
• Translation - Most OJEU notices are submitted in the language of the country where the tenders have originated in. The service which is used to translate these tenders is automated directly from the source language. This can led to confusion over the exact nature of the opportunities on offer.

These are some of the main concerns with the OJEU that have led many leading business commentators and politicians within the EU to call for full scale reform of the OJEU process.

If anyone has any other insights into the document, please don't hesitate to comment.

Tendering Considerations

Has it ever crossed your mind how the public sector chooses its partners? For example, who does the public sector rely on when it comes to recruiting staff or obtianing services? Who will be collecting the bins? Who builds the new office block? Who supplies the stationery or even sugar for the NHS!? Who will clean our hospitals? The answer is that it’s all done through the tendering process.

Considering tendering

If your business is considering tendering, then there are a few questions that you need to ask in order to establish whether tendering is an achievable option. Some points that should be considered would be:

Know the client

It is vital to be knowledgeable about who you are talking to. Getting data on the potential client enables you to enter the mindset of the business or organisation. What is the reputation of this buisness? can you work with them easily? or do you forsee some issues arising? and above all, are you confident that you can meet their standards?

Tendering details

What size is the tender? Is the tender possibly too much for your business to take on or conversely could you do a little better? Do you have the time to tender in a thorough manner?
Coming up with an effective tender is a detailed process, do you have the time and resources to construct a worthwhile case? A rushed proposal could damage any future tendering that you may wish to pursue.

Is the location right?

Can you deliver an effective service in the tender location?
Has you business sufficient experience?
Do you have a list of tendering refernces to call upon from previous work?

Obviously, a great deal of the public sector tender opportunities out there require that your company has sufficient experience of previous work.

These are just a few considerations that sohould be taken into account if you are considering entering a tendering process. When you are satisfied that you can meet most of these criteria then you can check some of the online tenders notice services for the latest opportunities.

Public Sector Must Keep Public Sector Thriving

Economic analysts have advised that any possible drastic spending cuts under a future government, might put the private sector under duress, especially in areas of Britain which are traditionally reliant on public investment as the main source of employment such as Northern Ireland, and the Highlands and Islands of Scotland.
Though not every side of the political divide fully agrees with this view, as the Shadow Secretary of State for Northern Ireland Owen Paterson, has stressed the need to convert the Northern Irish economy away from its reliance on public spending, and "turn Northern Ireland into an enterprise zone" should the conservatives win the election.
This would be done by cutting business rates in order that new companies would be attracted to the area, whilst also facilitating new home based business ventures.
This seems simple enough however it does not cover the fact that during the recent downturn, many Northern Irish businesses and jobs were kept viable by the large number of public construction contracts which were awarded to Irish companies in recent years, which would have almost certainly never have been mirrored by inward investment.