Govdata Portal

Submitted by: Christian Hugo

Website: http://www.govdata.co.uk

Describe your idea. How does it work and who does it help?

The problems we currently address in our data mash up are, for example:

For the civil service

capacity planning when going to market with a procurement requirement;
supplier evaluation across all contracts the supplier holds within public sector;
sharing best practice to allow peer to peer advice prior to a procurement from public servants who have already gone through the buying process previously and can share experiences;
aggregated procurement by using collaborative procurement in amalgamating market needs under shared service or multi agency service agreements;
one touch access to finding the right partner within another public body;
exploring the 'internal market' before going to tender
price comparisons against other public bodies;
reducing risk of buying from a suppliers reputation when the skills have long since moved to another provider
create shortlists of proven suppliers who meet the 'typical qualification tests' often examined later in a procurement process;
end result is quicker and more effective efficient procurement presenting a lower risk to the taxpayer and better return on public expenditure;

.......and many many more!

For the private sector, the datasets also:

enhance understanding and raise knowledge levels of choosing the right partners;
understanding their government customers;
reduce their bid to win ratio by avoiding contracts they are not suited to;
reduce the time and effort needed by procurement professionals who usually have to qualify these bidders out;
identify opportunities ahead of the procurement process to allow for better planning, resource allocation, and board level sponsorship on the SRO SRIE model;
less investment in cost of sales activity leading to reduced prices to the end customer;
less uninvited contact with civil servants when 'trawling' for new opportunities leaving the civil service free to deliver their PSAs rather than answering 'fact finding' questions on a frequent basis;
reduced chance of allegations of lack of transparency or biases within procurements;

In a nutshell, after 12 years in the pre procurement market, I learned that 70% of cost of sale goes on failed bids, which is passed on to customers who do award to these companies, which costs our economy billions of pounds per annum. The info exists to eradicate this problem completely!

What information or services do you need?

access to approved spending plans (normally called implementation plans or strategies)
annual reports
official performance audit data
existing contracts registers
contract award data electronically
spend figures itemised according to approved government finance classification codes for each and every public body