Making it easier for businesses to work with the GLA group
"I will make it easier for businesses to do business with the GLA group, the London 2012 Organising Committee and Olympic Delivery Authority."
Mayor Boris Johnson’s team has made it easier for businesses to work with the GLA group by championing initiatives such as the Compete For website started in 2007 (link). The Compete For site allows businesses to bid for City Hall contracts and makes the procurement process more accessible for firms of all sizes. 155,000 businesses are registered and there are 10,500 contract opportunities, 8,574 of which have been awarded by 8March 2012. Further, over 74 per cent of contracts have been awarded to SMEs and 37 per cent of the contracts have been awarded to London businesses (link). Over £270 million worth of Games-related contracts have already been won by suppliers through the Compete For scheme (link). In order to help the cash flow of small and medium-sized enterprises, the GLA group now has a prompt payment policy with an average of 86.8 per cent of all valid invoices from SMEs paid within 10 working days (link).