Department For Transport SME Case study:
| Title of Contract/ Name of SME |
| Government Car and Despatch Agency (GCDA) – extension of Government Mail, Sameday courier services to provide improved cover throughout mainland Britain. The contract was tendered in 2007 and a number of SMEs were successful. |
| Background on SME and the goods/services they provide |
| GCDA was looking for Sameday courier services that could match the security requirements of Government Mail (CTC minimum). 31 contractors were awarded the contract on a “call off” basis, with no guarantee of work. 24 of the 31 suppliers were SMEs. When the contract started in December 2007 it quickly became apparent that there was a considerable difference between the service provided by the large companies and the SMEs which had not been foreseen by GCDA at the outset. |
| Details of any changes we made to procurement practices to improve opportunity for SME to win. |
| GCDA’s initial expectation was that larger organisations would be better equipped to meet their needs than SMEs. They therefore did not specifically encourage or assist the SMEs during the 2007 tender process. However they noted that the big companies were far more astute at completing tenders and often have several staff dedicated to this task (for instance, DX has a large team of people specifically working on Government tenders and they completed 81 during 2011.) The SMEs, by their nature, are less experienced in preparing bids and this was something GCDA had been specifically looking to address in the planned contract re-let, in order to actively encourage future SME participation. Unfortunately due to the imminent closure of Government Mail, this re-let will not now take place, but GCDA would like to share the lessons they learnt with others in Government who will procure these services themselves in future. |
| What made the SME successful (including value of any savings) |
| GCDA experienced a high level of customer service and attention to detail from the SMEs which contrasted strongly with that provided by some of the larger companies. For instance, the SMEs took security very seriously indeed, they carefully nominated staff for security-clearance and ensured they always used these people for Government Mail work. If there was a problem the lines of communication from GCDA to the driver carrying out the work were much shorter than with the larger companies so problems were able to be resolved much more easily. In short, the SMEs were of a size where they valued GCDA’s business. |
| What (if any) added value they deliver as part of the contract |
| GCDA sub-contract a large part of their work, so a high quality of service is vitally important. They experienced a steep learning curve at the start of the contract, with some contractors struggling to adapt to the complexities of their business. The SMEs proved to be much more flexible and responsive, ultimately saving staff time and effort in problem resolution. |
| An SME who provides a product or service which might be of use to other Departments? |
| Point to Point Couriers in London have become GCDA’s number one contractor. They provide excellent customer service and will always find a way of carrying out GCDA’s requirements (even if this means hiring in a specific vehicle for the day as they had to do recently to move a number of secure safes from the Northern Ireland Office in Millbank.)Furthermore, they are part of an overnight parcel network called APC (The Alternative Parcel Company) and this is unique in that all the agents are SMEs and the service levels that result are because of the higher care that the SMEs can apply. |
| Does the SME have potential to grow its government footprint? |
| Now that Government Mail is closing, it is only companies like these that can provide the level of service and attention to detail for secure courier movements. Unfortunately, they will no longer have CTC security-cleared staff as GCDA will not exist to facilitate the clearances. |
| Is the product or service innovative – has it led to Departmental savings being made? |
| Not applicable |
