Anywhere but Wales .. an admission by WAG

Finally an admission by the WAG (in their new economic policy document) about an issue that has been driving Welsh business mad for years and years …

“Pilot work on supply voids and weaknesses has highlighted areas where a significant proportion of public sector spend is contracted outside of Wales due to lack of Welsh capability, or Welsh suppliers not seeking public sector business. We will extend this work to the whole of Wales, to better appreciate spatial differences and understand our supply base fully, and to explore the potential for collaborative activity between businesses on a sectoral, spatial and capacity basis. We will encourage businesses to develop and compete to fi ll gaps in the supply base.”

It is interesting that the study appears to lay the blame  on Welsh private sector suppliers because they don’t have the capability or because they are not seeking public sector business. This is maligning Welsh business. Welsh business doesn’t need paternalistic help or encouragement from WAG – thank you very much. It implies that WAG knows more about their business than they do and that more procurement advisors and consultants are on their way to teach them to suck eggs.

The reasons for the public sector procurement spend … ‘anywhere but Wales’ is because of the idleness and lack of capability of  public sector procurement servants coupled to the embedded fixation that the cheapest tender wins. This blog has commented before on this issue by highlighting the classic “anywhere but Wales” example set by Ceredigion County Council in procuring their annual calendar from a print firm in Lancaster (in spite of three quality print firms within 20 miles of Cardigan) and by adding insult to injury by committing the egregious sin of omitting St.David’s Day from it! There is, of course, the ongoing saga of VisitWales procuring web and media services from companies as far away from Wales as it is possible to go (Australia) in spite of suppliers of better qualification and cost in Cardiff.

I suppose we should give credit to WAG for finally owning up to this and attempting to address it in a positive way but putting up another version of the  Sell to Wales website and putting on more seminars about how to procure public sector business is not going to solve the underlying problem and sadness which is that many Welsh businesses are now extremely wary of dealing with the public sector even if they have the capability.

WAG should be applauded, however, for seeming to take on board the radical concept that if no Welsh business can be found for a procurement project then much greater efforts should be made to train, upskill or create a Welsh business that can deliver BEFORE outsourcing outside of Wales.