Credit: IDG
Government Procurement is rolling out an early warning system, alerting vendors of opportunities via a new notification on the Government Electronic Tenders website, GETS.
In a notice published yesterday, Procurement said it was more effective to provide an early heads up to suppliers about upcoming opportunities because it allowed businesses to understand the potential pipeline of work coming from buyers and to prepare in advance.
"Until now, agencies have provided this information via the annual procurement plans (APPs) published every six months," it said.
"However, after feedback from both agencies and businesses, we have decided to enable procurement teams to provide early warning to businesses on an ongoing basis by publishing future procurement opportunities (FPO) via GETS."
In addition, Procurement said it was committed to updating the GETS platform.
"This will start with back end improvements that will improve the stability and scalability of the system then followed by changes to the look and feel of the system. These improvements will make GETS more user friendly and introduce greater functionality."
An FPO was not a commitment by an agency to procure the goods and/or services, but signalled potential future activity to the market to ensure that prospective suppliers could be prepared, informed and engaged, the notice said.
"Agencies can update their FPOs as the project progresses and generate more certainty for businesses," the notice said. "In addition, an FPO could signal a project where multiple activities are upcoming, similar to an advance notice to market."
An interested supplier can subscribe to an FPO and follow it as the opportunity progresses, allowing agencies to identify suppliers for early market engagement.
The change is live with immediate effect and FPO notices are available to suppliers in a similar way to other notices.
