THE PARLIAMENTARY REVIEW
Highlighting best practice
THE PARLIAMENTARY REVIEW
Highlighting best practice
48 | TMS SUPPORT SOLUTIONS
SME has had to re-evaluate its priorities
in order to remain a relevant entity in a
very large organism.
Coupled with this is the MoD’s and
wider government’s drive to pass more
risk and cost onto industry – quite
fairly, you might say, as it is their job to
get the best deal for the taxpayer, after
all. Unfortunately, like so many things
in life, what looks good on paper does
not quite turn out as wonderful in
reality, and it is the SMEs that suffer
the most.
A prime example is the establishment
of the engineering delivery partnership,
or EDP, a consortium headed by three
industry giants. The EDP was set up
as a result of the MoD’s defence
equipment and support organisation’s
requirement to streamline engineering
contracts and, of course, to save the
MoD money. The EDP is a ten-year
contract with an estimated value in
excess of £1 billion. Three leading
defence prime contractors established
Aurora Engineering Partnership and
held their own pre-qualification
survey to enable suppliers to join the
consortium. This came at a significant
cost for SMEs, with weeks spent
completing the questionnaire and
addressing additional insurance
requirements – amounting to over
£7,000, despite the fact that the
insurance had never previously been
a prerequisite for MoD contracts –
all in order to be allowed to bid on
opportunities that the SMEs had full
access to just a month previously.
And then the twist: Aurora Engineering
Partnership not only mark SMEs’
responses to MoD opportunities, but
they themselves are also allowed to
bid – ipso facto marking their own
homework. It follows that if you
are an SME that provides the same
services as one of the main Aurora
Partners, there is little opportunity
for work, perhaps at least until they
achieve a critical mass. The fair and
equitable competition, delivering best-
value, quality SME services and the
transparency typically associated with
government contracts, seems to have
disappeared overnight. This is just one
example – such frameworks seem to
be becoming the norm in defence and
are increasing across many sectors.
The solution
Adapt, innovate, become more agile
and network. The aim is to have your
fingers in as many pies as possible. But
let’s start with adapt. First, acceptance
is required that this is the way of
the world and that no SME wields
enough power to make a change.
With frameworks and consortia being
created monthly, it is very easy to
blink and miss an opportunity. And if
you miss it, you risk losing out for the
duration of that agreement – anything
from three to ten years. Therefore, it
is mandatory to have a dedicated staff
member scouring the internet, the
procurement portals and news sites to
keep aware of current and upcoming
frameworks, consortia and tenders.
At the same time, networking is as
important as ever. Attending industry
days, expos and shows, meet-the-
buyer events, and plain old door-to-
door meetings are vital actions for
SMEs. Being a known entity among
the prime contractors holds the
With headquarters in
Lincolnshire, TMS also
operates two additional
sites
We work
directly with
the Ministry of
Defence and
with larger
prime
contractors
such as BAE
Systems,
Raytheon and
Rolls-Royce
“
“
49TMS SUPPORT SOLUTIONS |
AEROSPACE, DEFENCE & SECURITY
same significance as having a good
reputation. We exhibit at the most
industry-relevant shows, where the
main objective is not to sell but to
beseen.
Our business development team
has learnt the importance of
communication among themselves,
each having a dedicated task while
everyone else knows what they’re
working on. The days of “knowledge
is power”, where people cling onto
their specific task, unwilling to share,
are long gone. For the good of the
business, working as a team is vital
and also saves time and money by not
having multiple people chasing the
same leads.
We also chose to take the innovation
route and digitise the workplace,
developing a suite of mobile and
desktop applications ranging from
risk mitigation and safety reporting
to spares ordering and asset
management. “Stop, look, assess,
mitigate” is a risk mitigation mobile
app that allows employees to easily
record, assess and manage hazards
and risks. Through its instant,
auditable record-keeping, it ensures
that employees comply with company
health and safety policy and follow
correct safety procedures.
The safety event reporting app, or SERA,
allows immediate accident reporting,
thereby mitigating the memory blur
often associated with trying to revisit
an accident that has been reported
at a later date. SERA also delivers
instant notification to management
and provides fully auditable reports on
demand. These applications and others
have been successfully deployed by the
engineers of one of the large defence
consortiums. Working closely with
the engineers and collecting customer
feedback has allowed us to customise
the apps to clients’ exact requirements
and also provides a seamless bug-
fixingroute.
The future
We are continuously looking beyond
defence. Although the company has
extensive experience in the delivery of
support services to the defence and
oil-and-gas industries, our focus is to
expand our portfolio of digital services
into these sectors while looking
to other potential markets such as
agriculture, health and construction.
With every company looking to cut
costs and streamline processes, we
feel it is the perfect opportunity to
introduce our solution.
While this offers exciting prospects, we
remain fully committed to delivering
our core services to the high standards
we have perfected over the past 28
years. The company was founded with
the goal of serving our forces, and we
hope to continue to do so for many
years to come.
Adapt,
innovate,
become more
agile and
network
“
“
TMS have been proudly
supporting our armed
forces since 1991
Rt Hon The Lord David Blunkett
Rt Hon The Lord Eric Pickles
