In response to concerns that, in the past, bigger cash-rich companies have won bids at the expense of smaller counterparts which lack financial security but already have in essence the product it needs, the government is attempting with HOBO to level the playing-field.

This is particularly important where a bidding business can, because of its expertise:

• Utilise an existing product or service, or easily adapt the same
• Reduce or eliminate altogether the costs of research and development
• Reduce delivery time
• Reduce uncertainty over the ability of the bid-winner to supply the solution to comply with the specifications and within the timeframe
• Reduce the necessary involvement of crown officials in project management and / or liaison and / or administrative costs
• Reduce the ultimate cost of delivering the contract

NB Bidders must be prepared, within 14 days of the deadline for bids, to demonstrate that they do indeed have a suitable product and / or service if they have declared this to be the case within their bid. Failure to demonstrate a match or near-match convincingly (after such a match has been claimed) will mean automatic exclusion from the process and might impact on future tenders

Will our financial stability still be key to our bid?

We’ll be sensible. If you run a tiny SME and yet have somehow already developed a great product without any funds or help from the banks, then your financial stability shouldn’t be a barrier to selling that product into government. So don’t let poor financials worry you where they should essentially be irrelevant. Your bid scoring reflects this enlightened philosophy, and ultimately contracts can be tailored – perhaps through staged payments – to enable the funding necessary for bid-winners to deliver on their contracts without significant risk of public funds.

What about those irksome policy statements?

We cannot eliminate the paper-chase entirely. All bidders still have to make some appropriate policy statements available, for example. But, where in the past that has created an administrative burden that might well deter a potential bidder who has the product we require but doesn’t have (for example) an ethical policy statement, we are now giving SMEs ready and free access to such resources (though they clearly need to be customised prior to deployment).