Partner Article

Pressure mounts on public sector contractors

The Cabinet Office Minister Francis Maude is placing increased pressure on public sector contractors to ensure they maintain a high level of service to the Government.

As spending cuts take place across the whole of the Public Sector, IT suppliers have been warned that by performing poorly they could lose out on lucrative government contracts.

Maude is set to meet with a number of top public sector suppliers to outline plans streamline and record contractor performance. If firms fail to meet those targets, they will be banned from supplying to the Government.

Chris Papa, the Managing Director of communications specialist and cloud computing firm Qubic said: “Over the years there have been some very high profile failures and suppliers being taken to court because of an inability to deliver on time and on budget.

“Those that supply to the Government are finding intense pressure being placed on them because there are large numbers of firms that can offer greater levels of flexibility that cost-conscious public sector bodies are looking for.

“Be that as it may, there still doesn’t seem to be the required level of trust in smaller firms, partly because of the fear factor as there was a perception that ‘bigger’ provided a measure of security.”

He now believes that much more work needs to be done on cutting overspend, as well as teaching the risks arising from cyber attacks.

Chris added: “In today’s tough economic environment smaller companies and cloud computing have driven wholesale change, and as public sector departments look for specialisation as well as savings, this has opened the door to smaller suppliers that typically are specialists, can react quickly and have a more favourable pricing strategy.”

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Ruth Mitchell .