Member Article

MEP Supports Local Contractors

North East construction firms deserve a level playing field when bidding for government contracts, according to Fiona Hall MEP, who recently met with concerned business leaders.

Three of the largest construction firms in the region - Tolent, Surgo and the Esh Group - recently joined forces to lobby the government for reform in the way building contracts are awarded, warning that all but the largest companies found it impossible to qualify for millions of pounds of publicly-funded work.

Lib Dem Euro MP Fiona Hall has already written to the Cabinet Office to express her concerns and today she met Ian Walker, John Wood and Brian Manning - the company bosses leading the campaign - to discuss the impact the rules are having on the region’s building industry.

Fiona said: “Clearly, the current strategy of using national procurement frameworks is stacked in favour of the very large national construction firms. The result is that small and medium businesses, vital to the North East economy, are being unfairly squeezed.

“There is real concern that the high turnover requirement is a barrier to regional companies. And also that the framework approach does not necessarily produce good value for taxpayers in terms of the cost of individual projects.

“The government needs to look again at the qualifying criteria it has set to ensure experienced, highly-regarded regional firms are not excluded from the process. All these companies are asking for is a level playing field.”

Speaking not only for North East construction businesses but also those affected across the UK, Esh Group’s chairman Brian Manning added: “This is not just an issue for our three businesses but it’s having a major impact on workload for all medium-sized construction companies across the country.

“We are making a stand on this and will challenge frameworks that aggregate construction contracts, insist on turnover criteria and claim best value for taxpayers on the basis of a beauty competition that has little bearing on outcomes”

John Wood, chairman of Tolent Construction, further commented: “We were all pleased to have the chance to talk to Fiona Hall. She mentioned that there are moves afoot in the European Parliament to revise the European Public Procurement Directive as SMEs in Germany are also being adversely affected so hopefully we may see some fairness in the way that work is procured in the future.

“Operating with common sense would be a good start - the procurement industry has become so highly evolved that whether you can actually build the project is almost incidental – the focus seems to be on all sorts of other topics that have nothing to do with your experience and abilities.”

Ian Walker, chairman of Surgo Construction, added: “It is encouraging to see that support now appears to be growing for our call for reform of these frameworks and I am delighted that Fiona Hall has made the time to meet up with us to discuss our views at length.

“The Government is pursuing a strategy for procurement which is totally at odds with its localism agenda and this is not just affecting the construction sector.

“When jobs are being lost and SMEs, which are so vital to the UK’s economic strength, find themselves unable to compete against major, national firms for contracts they are more than capable of delivering successfully, an urgent review is required. All we ask for is a chance to compete – we are not asking for special treatment.”

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Leigh Chelton .