COVID-19 Support for Businesses

SMEs often go no further than a set of company policies but this rules them out of consideration for a wide range of contract opportunities. We will look to get SMEs motivated to get one or more of the standard accreditations like CHAS, Safe contractor, SSIP, Constructionline etc. without which they will have little chance of getting on to main contractor supply chains. We will include a talk by Achilles Building for Confidence which is an externally assessed health & safety accreditation body which is considered the H&S gold standard by main contractors and a passport to work with them.

This workshop will seek to de-mystify the various ISO accreditations for those SMEs that are looking to raise their game and seek more public sector and larger commercial contracts. ISO 9001(quality assurance) and 14001(environmental), for example, help to significantly de-risk a potential new supplier in the eyes of buyers.

 Tendering to win: Another skill that SMEs need, in order to bid successfully for both public and private sector contracts, is understanding a client’s needs and values, knowing how to complete a Pre-qualification questionnaire and what to include in a tender