Small Business Saturday Blog

Step aside Mystery Shopper scheme - hello new Public Procurement Review Service!

Thursday, February 21, 2019 at 10:53

Have you ever had a concern about a public sector contract? Have you experienced late payment by the public sector? Maybe the Public Procurement Review Service can help.

Public Procurement Review Service is the new name for the successful Mystery Shopper scheme that allows suppliers to raise concerns anonymously about public sector procurement. It has helped hundreds of suppliers in challenging public procurement opportunities.

Since 2011, the team (which is part of the Cabinet Office) has handled over 1550 cases and helped to speed up over £6.2 million in late payments. By working closely on difficult cases with contracting authorities, we help the government improve how it buys goods and services. Cases are summarised and published; only the contracting authorities are named.

So why the new name?

Simply put, the new name reflects what the team does and makes it easier for suppliers to search for the service and find out how it can help them.

Suppliers of all sizes can use the Public Procurement Review Service where they feel that a public sector procurement is not being run in line with the procurement rules and best practice, or have issues obtaining payment for work that has been completed. The service is particularly used by small businesses.

Things you need to know about the service

• It’s free to use
• Suppliers can use in complete confidence of anonymity
• We aim to either broker an effective and satisfactory resolution and / or gain a better understanding to stop problems ‘next time’
• We can assist in unblocking late payments

Find out more about the Public Procurement Review Service on the gov.uk website. We’ve also prepared a useful guide that explains the work of the service in more detail. (If you’re a small business experiencing payment problems on a private sector contract, you may want to contact the Small Business Commissioner).

We are keen to spread the word about the PPRS; in that way the team will be able to help even more concerned public sector suppliers, and work with contracting authorities to prevent problems arising in the future – improving procurement for all. So please tell colleagues and friends about what we do!

Use the service by sending an email to [email protected].