VARs urged to make use of information
Freedom of Information Act could give VARs the edge, consultancy claims
Resellers should take advantage of the Freedom of Information (FOI) Act to give them an edge when bidding for public sector contracts, according to consultancy firm Freedom of Information.
John Ashton, a director at Freedom of Information, said: “We work with the IT sector a lot. If resellers are selling to government they can obtain a good deal of procurement-related information.
“In the US, firms look for as much background information as possible that can support their bids. For example, they obtain information on how previous contracts have been assessed internally by an authority.
This is the kind of thing UK firms should be doing. If an IT contract is up for renewal, a reseller could get details of who the existing contract is with and how they won the tender. They could also find out how they are viewed by authorities.
“We can spare resellers the time and effort of having to search for information. They could be lucky and get a helpful authority, but the majority of information takes a long time to obtain. We also offer them anonymity as many businesses don’t want authorities to know what they are after.”
Pete Mistry, technical sales consultant at the Eclipse Group, said: “I would estimate that around 95 per cent of the channel has no clue as to the possibilities available to them through the FOI Act. A consultancy could be useful, but it needs to do a lot of work to make the channel aware of the benefits of the Act.”
Mike Williams, public sector sales manager at Misco, said: “We sent off applications for information on two tenders but they both came back with ‘exempt from disclosure’, which highlighted my fears. I had wondered how much information would actually be revealed under the Act. If this consultancy is acting independently then it could be a way round it.”
Nick Kalisperas, director of trade body Intellect, added: “We welcome any initiative that helps IT companies understand the Act. It is essential that suppliers remain competitive, meaning they must understand the potential impact of the Act on the way they interact with public sector customers in the future.”