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Welsh Firms Missing Out on 2012 Olympics



A question by Cheryl Gillan MP to Tessa Jowell has revealed that firms in England have secured 97 per cent of the 600 contracts so far signed for the games. In contrast, only 1 per cent has gone to Welsh firms.

According to Ms Jowell:

"To date three businesses or organisations registered in Wales have supplied goods and services to the Olympic Delivery Authority (ODA), these are John Evans Photography; Strategy and Solution Limited; and the Office for National Statistics. These contracts were awarded for photography, management consulting services and data processing and preparation. Due to commercial sensitivities I cannot make public the value of each of these contracts, but I can tell you that spend to date with them is £5,053. The Olympic Delivery Authority will directly procure over 2,000 contracts; these are expected to generate 50,000 supply chain opportunities. At this early stage, 600 contracts have been awarded. The percentage shares are as follows: England (97%); Wales (1%); Northern Ireland (1%) and Scotland (1%)".


As Cheryl rightly says, the Government promised that the 2012 London Olympics will benefit every part of Britain. These figures suggest otherwise and could lead some to think that firms bidding for these contracts are not competing on a level playing field.

More importantly, what is the Welsh Assembly Government doing to ensure that Welsh firms are being fully supported in any process to gain access to the hundreds of millions of pounds of contracts that are, at the moment, going to firms in England? Surely, it cannot be a question of quality, so it must be one of access to the procurement process.

Comments

Anonymous said…
also has there been any information from WAG or Westminister for small business on how to apply to tender for Olympic contracts.
April 28, 2008 4:48 pm
Anonymous said…
And sod all has been done about helping small firms access the £5 billion of public sector spend in Wales so why should we worry about the Olympics
April 28, 2008 11:35 pm
Anonymous said…
WAG sleeping on the job again ...
April 29, 2008 8:01 am
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