Top tips to do business with Defence
As UK industry’s largest single customer, the Defence sector offers lucrative opportunities to the commercial marine sector, but how do you access the market?
Seawork’s conference programme tackled the application process for Defence contracts with a special talk by Claire Budden, head of procurement, Navy Command Commercial, UK Civil Service.
She said that the UK Civil Service places a great emphasis on ”Social value and not the quantitative element of the response,” so applicants should focus on this during their application.
”This will ensure that Small and Medium Sized Enterprises are able to compete with larger companies on a ‘level playing field’,” she said.
Great opportunity
The UK’s Defence sector has around GB£20bn procurement spend per year and moreover, it has a planned spend of £210bn on equipment and support in the next decade.
Ms Budden pointed out that the majority of opportunities to do business with defence exist in the supply chain, including for equipment manufacturers and suppliers.
She said that new contracts can be found at the Defence Sourcing Portal the UK Government’s Contracts Finder and the UK Defence contractor’s own websites.
”Our procurement processes are based on the principles of fair and open competition, reflecting EU Procurement Directives and international obligations,” Ms Budden said.
Navy Command Commercial currently uses Public Contracts Regulations, but the Defence and Security Public Contracts Regulations – Procurement Act 2023 takes effect in October this year.
In addition, Knowledge in Defence (KiD), which is available via registered access at www.gov.uk defines the defence acquisition process and is the primary bearer of all policy relating to Defence’s project delivery and commercial functions.
Navy Commercial has a commitment to SMEs with 20% of its top tier spend from Navy Commercial going straight to this sector with even more at the second tier.
Mr Budden says that 10% of an application should focus on social value, in addition companies should also be specific not generic, focusing on the effective measures to deliver benefits through the contract.
Applicants can also review the sub-criteria which includes specific illustrative examples to help with successful bids.
