National and regional business leaders and politicians have united to welcome the announcement of a new pilot helping small and medium, local business based in the Greater Manchester (GM) and Liverpool City Region (LCR) city regions to win public sector contracts from their local councils within the STAR family.
The new pilot, which uses a digital platform (Nomia) to obtain quotes for lower value council contracts with small and medium, local businesses, which will ensure local businesses are at the front of the queue to fulfil contracts for goods and services. It could ultimately mean significantly more council budget being spent locally to help create growth and jobs in the regional economies.
The STAR family of councils in this pilot are Stockport, Tameside, Trafford and Rochdale, Knowsley and St Helens. This pilot is the first of its kind in the UK and which the Federation of Small Businesses (FSB) has been lobbying for in the past two years. The pilot is being led by STAR Procurement who are the strategic procurement function of those councils and the FSB hope, if successful, could in future see other councils in the region taking the same approach.
FSB research in GM shows the vast majority of small businesses have typically regarded council contracts as being out of reach and overly complicated and expensive to win. The pilot will help challenge the onerous and bureaucratic approach to public sector procurement, such as the use of complex e-tendering portals. The pilot will initially focus on low value contracts, and this will be reviewed as each phase of the pilot is rolled out.
Leader of Trafford Council, Cllr Tom Ross said:
“As the new Procurement Act 2023 goes live this month it is brilliant to see STAR Procurement leading the way in piloting a new way to target our local and SME businesses in our Greater Manchester region to increase their success in winning public sector contracts”
Leader of Knowsley Council, Cllr Graham Morgan, said:
“This is an exciting pilot that will drive more local spend to support our small and medium businesses and simplify how we approach lower value public procurement in Knowsley and in our Liverpool city region”
Director at STAR Procurement, Lorraine Cox, who has been the driving force behind this pilot, said:
“I’m confident the pilot will deliver benefits in spending the public purse locally and will strengthen relationships between the public sector and small and medium businesses”
“This pilot will test a proof of concept and therefore contracts will release in small phases to allow STAR to assess processes and impact. We anticipate success and therefore intend to widen the scope in the future”.
GM Metro Mayor, Andy Burnham also welcomed the pilot, commenting:
“Helping more small businesses compete for and win public contracts is key to building a more inclusive economy in Greater Manchester. By keeping spending local, we can ensure the benefits are felt by our people and communities”
Robert Downes, Development Manager for the FSB in Greater Manchester, said:
“This is an exciting opportunity for businesses and councils alike – and it’s something we’ve been campaigning for since 2022”.
“For smaller businesses who have traditionally seen public sector procurement as beyond their reach and aimed more at bigger businesses, this will help open-up contract opportunities to small and medium businesses. These could see a new and rich stream of contract opportunities, without the complex procedures of higher value/risk contracts”.
“It’s a real win-win for the public and private sectors particularly at a time when budgets in all sectors are under pressure.”
For further information about the pilot, contact STAR by email Paul.atherton@star-procurement.gov.uk or call 07976957806.