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20 • Visit us @ www.ChampNews.com SF The Champion • Wednesday 9 January 2013Sefton Councilcontract complaintsare investigated1115612Report byNatasha YoungTHE Government has investigated complaintsinto how Sefton Council awarded a contract, aspart of its Mystery Shopper initiative.The nationwide scheme calls for businesses to‘shop’ bad public procurement practice and, inthe 18 months since its launch, more than 300complaints have been investigated.In Sefton, a supplier is said to have beende–selected during the selection phase of anopen procedure on the basis of questionsconcerning health and safety.The Cabinet Office investigated the matterand found that the local authority had receivedother concerns from suppliers concerning thescoring of the selection stage and decided tore–run the selection stage.A spokesman for Sefton Council said: “Wewelcome any initiative that improves theprocurement process.“As part of the review of the procurementexercise mentioned here, we have beenworking closely with the Cabinet Office toreassess and successfully improve ourevaluation process.“But as this particular contract has not yetbeen awarded, we cannot really discuss itfurther.”Elsewhere in the North West, separateinvestigations were also carried out followingcomplaints about councils’ procurementpractice in Blackpool and Manchester.According to the minister for the CabinetOffice, Francis Maude, 78% of the nationwidecases which have been completed haveresulted in positive changes.The Mystery Shopper’s first progress reportshows that 80% of all cases raised had issueswith the procurement process, with severalsmall and medium–sized enterprises (SMEs)concerned about unachievablepre–qualification financial requirements andthe lack of early market engagement.In 38% of concerns about the procurementprocess, SMEs cited lengthy and complexpre–qualification questionnaires whichdisadvantage smaller businesses by setting toomuch emphasis on financial guarantees andrequirements.Mr Maude said: “Giving SMEs a chance tohave their voices heard when bureaucraticbarriers stand in their way can really make adifference to their business, and to the growthof our economy. In just 18 months we’ve seennearly 80% of investigated cases result in apositive outcome.“Smaller businesses want to see shorter andeasier pre–qualification assessments, and getfrustrated when the lack of properlyadvertising contracts or pre–procurementengagement causes unnecessary delays to theprocess as a whole.“Remember, this service is anonymous. It’sin the best interests of SMEs to continue to useour Mystery Shopper service – with their helpwe’ll be able to drive even furtherimprovements and stamp out bad practiceacross public sector contracts.”1115372