Answers to some of the most frequently asked questions can be found below.

What's the Purpose of Gov Contracting?

The main aim behind Gov Contracting is to link public sector buyers to private sector suppliers.

What do you Mean by Public Sector?

Our definition of the public sector includes local, regional and central Government, the MOD, the NHS, Higher Education colleges and universities, Non-Departmental Public Bodies and various other organisations associated with the workings of Government.

How do public sector purchasing officers find out about Gov Contracting?

There are a variety of ways in which public sector employees find out about Gov Contracting. One is the same as that of many of our visitors - by using a search engine to locate public sector information. The other is via our update procedure. Inevitably, to update our databases we have to communicate with many Government bodies; and in doing so we try to communicate the benefits of the free service we can offer to public sector employees. Further marketing campaigns on our part also help raise the usership of the site.

What are the benefits of using Gov Contracting for Public Sector Employees?

For many issues public sector officials have set rules by which they must abide. One aspect of this is a requirement for liaison and communication between themselves, counterparts and seniors in other organisations - interagency communication - to share successful working practises and to benchmark procedures covering policy and procurement. Gov Contracting offers a useful information resource unencumbered by bureaucratic and cost constraints to enable them to get their job done, and do it well. It is a beneficial service free of charge. Our information resources are also some of the most comprehensive and detailed available.

What services do you offer to companies that want to sell to the public sector?

• Directory listing which will put you in the eyes of all public sector buyers wishing to source out contracts.
• For larger companies we can office a Category banner which will make you stand out above all others in the category.
• For our corporate customers we also offer a homepage click button ensuring that you will be the first thing anyone sees as they enter the portal.

To find out more regarding Gov Contracting Information Services, please contact us. Our aim is to offer a complete service of benefit to any company that works in, or would like to work in, the public sector.

As a Public Sector Purchasing officer, if I take out a free subscription will I receive lots of spam e-mail?

No. We will merely send one e-mail to you once per month informing you of the updates to the site. Your e-mail address will not be divulged to third parties. We will obey the terms of the Data Protection Act.

What are the benefits of selling to the public sector?

Access to a truly vast marketplace, with guaranteed payment and very strong customer loyalty. Successful suppliers often find that one satisfied client leads to another, because word of mouth in the public sector - as is inevitably the case if procurement officials liaise with their counterparts on a daily basis and benchmark numerous projects for the sake of corporate efficiency - is extremely powerful.

Isn't it all bound up in red tape?

The short answer to that is no. With the abolition of the Compulsory Competitive Tendering policy, the introduction of Best Value, the Modernising Government programme and Electronic Service Delivery, many of the barriers to doing business with public sector organisations have been removed. If you have specific questions relating to this point, please contact us.

Government organisations never do business with small companies!

Untrue. Many small companies already do business with Government. In fact, the Government is interested in attracting more SMEs to the public sector marketplace. Here's what the Office of Government Commerce (which is specifically charged with improving and modernising Government procurement) says: "Much could be gained by enabling more SMEs to compete. The benefits to the public sector can include better levels of service, innovative business solutions and increased competitiveness in the longer term. In return, SMEs could gain by having access to a large and stable market."

Don't they always go for the cheapest option?

Public sector organisations only buy on cost alone with regard to commodities (such as food) where it is a straightforward matter to define the product and where there is an active marketplace that competes on price. One of the reasons the Compulsory Competitive Tendering policy was abolished was because buying cheapest goods and services lost money. Best Value principles are designed to inform all purchasing decisions; whole life costs have to be considered. Organisations in the public sector that have continual procurement needs for tens of thousands or even hundreds of thousands of goods have to take into account the life-time cost of a product or service, and in order to do that it might be necessary to spend more money in the short term to save money over the medium and long term.