Give 50% of Govt ICT contracts to companies with turnovers under £20m

It has been reported that the Govt is paying £105m for the HMRC website over a period of three years. By any benchmark, HMRC is paying a top price for this. It has also been reported that 85% of Govt IT contracts go to only 6-8 large suppliers. Cut free the Govt ICT marketplace from this overpriced restricted supply chain where the major barrier to entry is not price or capability but a tendering process that puts off a lot of capable smaller companies from going through the bidding process. This can be done easily by reserving 50% of Govt ICT contracts for smaller SME's. This would not be anticompetitive as at least 50% of the UK's ICT industry outside Govt resides in these smaller SME's anyway. I plead to the UK Government, save money, get better ICT systems, stimulate economic growth, break up the current monopoly ICT supply chain.

Why does this matter?

It can save Government money. Stimulation of smaller SME ICT sector. Some of the latest technologies and methodologies reside within smaller companies. Governemnt will get an infusion of new ideas on how to use ICT. Better management of legacy costs. Better service and performance from the SME ICT sector. reduce costs of the larger suplliers.

Suggested by icdowson and tagged computers, government procurement, ict, internet, procurement, supply chain. Comment. Image source