- Former UK Prime Minister Tony Blair
- Luxembourg Prime Minister Jean-Claude Juncker
- Belgian PM Van Rompuy
- Dutch PM Balkenende
- Swedish Foreign Minister Carl Bildt
We will be watching developments with great interest............
- Mood:
curious
New Science City in Newcastle up for Tender
Newcastle is looking to join other major cities in the United Kingdom by adding a science city (science Centre) to its growing list of world class attractions. The plan to enhance prosperity by having a science city will be a huge boost the economy, science community and for companies far and wide looking to take advantage of this news by getting in early on the tendering process.
- Mood:accomplished
News from the UK Governement that there are still £1.7bn worth of London 2012 tenders up for grabs. This was what was told to the attendees of the London 2012 Business Summit at ExCeL today.
Peter Mandelson said:
“Today’s event showcases the £1.7 billion still on offer for businesses in the London 2012 Olympic project, and the springboard it provides to win business in other sporting events worldwide.
“With both Government and business working together, companies of all sizes across the UK can share in Olympic gold.”
See the Gov Monitor article for more details,
There are less than 100 days to go before the games begin.
New emerged this week that East Coast Mainline rail operator National Express has pulled out of running the prestigious route (which runs trains between Edinburgh, Glasgow, Inverness, Aberdeen and London via York) as they admitted to being unable to pay the £1.4 bn that it agreed to pay to operate the franchise for seven years.
The news prompted the governmment to announce that the route will temporarily shift back into public sector control, probably around October in order to keep the services running as normal. It is expected that the government will stage a competition for the franchise in late 2010.
Early indications are that Scottish Transport group First are in pole position to take over the contract. FirstGroup are the UK's biggest transport operator - running 5 rail franchises, including ScotRail.
What are your opinions on this matter?
- Who should win the new contract?
- Should the government take control of this line permanently?
- Is a franchise capable of running this line? - GNER and National Express couldn't do it
There is little doubt that we are in the midst of the most challenging economic times for several generations. The unprecedented events of the last few months have meant that many businesses within the EU are being thouroughly tested on every level. With expert analyists, such as the BBCs Robert Peston seemingly unable to pinpoint exactly when the downturn will start to abate it seems likely that this period is set to last for at least another year.
Hoewever, we thought that we would put this negativity to one side today and try to look ahead. When this recession does finally begin to recede, what will be sector with the most opportunities for tenders to develop?
Please vote in our poll…
Poll #1395158 Growth-Sectors after recession
Open to: All, detailed results viewable to: All, participants: 0
What will be the main growth sectors after the recession?
Agricultre
0 (0.0%)
Food and Drink 0 (0.0%)
Health Services 0 (0.0%)
Information Technology 0 (0.0%)
Construction and Property 0 (0.0%)
Education 0 (0.0%)
Consultancy/Professional Services 0 (0.0%)
Materials and Products 0 (0.0%)
More post-recession growth sectors
Legal Services 0 (0.0%)
Mining 0 (0.0%)
Printing and Publishing 0 (0.0%)
Research and Development 0 (0.0%)
Technology and Equipment 0 (0.0%)
Transport Services 0 (0.0%)
None of the above 0 (0.0%)
We look forward to seeing the results of the poll.
Wikipedia
There are some issues around Wikipedia - by its very nature (user generated) it can be unreliable - but it also happens to be a great source of easily digestible information. The European Union page is an excellent example of a well edited and stable Wikipedia page with some excellent links and resources.
BBC EU Section
The BBC devote an entire section to understanding the European Union. There are webpages devoted to - What is the remit of an MEP?, - The various institutions and agencies of the European Union, A timeline of the European Union, A historical map of the various incarnations of the European Union, and also this very handy Jargonbuster featuring definitions of a wide range of related topics.
RSS Feeds from Related Sites
It would be a great idea to sign up for Google Alerts and get updates to your inbox for your subject of interest. Another idea for keeping up to date is to get an RSS reader and subscribe to relevant pages of interest on the European Union. For example, Business Europe has interesting content on EU policy reports and publications, if you subscribe to the RSS feeds of these page you can get the latest trends straight into your browser.
As we have established in previous posts, The Official Journal of the European Union (OJEU, formerly OJEC) is published each working day in each of the European Union's twenty langauges.
This obviously presents its own set of issues, which we will come to later.
As to the structure of the journal, it consists of three seperate sections or 'series' as they are called - Information and notices, Legislation and Public procurement.
Any entreprenuers out there who are thinking of trying to win public sector tenders there are three kinds of notice to focus upon - these are pre-information notices, invitations to tender and contract awards. It is within these categories that the opportunities for each sector are outlined.
Common problems with the official journal
The sheer scope and complexity of the OJEU obviously brings with it certain difficulties. Most commonly:
- Due to the sheer volume of opportunities on offer, it can be difficult to locate those tenders which directly relate to your business needs and capabilities.
- Many services and sectors overlap, therefore it can be difficult to locate individual categories within the journal that you may wish to focus on.
- Translation issues - Most OJEU notices are submitted in the language of the country where the tenders have originated in. The service which is used to translate these tenders is automated directly from the source language. This can led to confusion over the exact nature of the opportunities on offer.
So, what is the OJEU and what does it contain? Although there is a wealth of data available on the topic, this is a question that is stll difficult to get a definitive answer for.
History of the OJEU
The OJEU (formerly OJEC - Official Journal of the European Community) initially superceded the Official Journal of the European Coal and Steel community which was published in 1952. The Official Journal has been published in its current guise since the Nice Treaty came into effect in 2003. The nauture of the journal has evovled greatly since its original inception.
There is no longer a hard-copy version of the OJEU published, all public sector contracts and tendering opportunities are published online within the OJEU. The entire list of government tenders notices can be found online from services such as Tracker - there are hundrdeds of opportunities added daily.
What's included in the OJEU?
The latest directive from the EU dictate that all government tenders worth above £97,000, central government and £144,000 (local) must be included in the OJEU. This includes contracts and tenders notices from a wide range of sources - including organisations and projects that receive public funding such as Central Government Departments, National Health Service Trusts, Local Authorities and Educational Bodies.
The unprecedented levels of public sector investment throughout Europe can be seen through the constatntly updated OJEU. There are around 3000 new tenders up for grabs on a weekly basis, including invitations to tender, prior information notices, qualification systems and contract award notices.
We hope that this provides some clarity on the OJEU - good luck with tendering!
- Mood:accomplished
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