NEW ACCREDITATION SERVICE GOES LIVE
7 December 2006
Select Accredit, a new national pre-qualification accreditation service aimed at helping public sector buyers and suppliers, has gone live online at www.bipselect.com
Select Accredit, provided by BiP Solutions Ltd (BiP), is a supplier accreditation service that is fully compliant with the EC Treaty, EC Public Procurement Directives and UK Regulations and can therefore be accepted across the public sector.
The service provides a global approach to pre-qualification via supplier assessment across a common range of requirements, helping to deliver increased efficiency and reduced costs for buyers and suppliers. It helps public sector organisations streamline their procurement process, as well as reducing the administration burden on suppliers.
Select Accredit is the only cross-public sector accreditation service delivered to the same exacting standards set for the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI)’s Constructionline accreditation service, itself the only UK government-supported accreditation service.
BiP has appointed Capita – which administers the Constructionline service on behalf of the DTI – as the vetting process service provider for Select Accredit. Capita’s specialist software enables Constructionline and Select Accredit supplier information to be hosted in a shared environment, so reducing duplication. Constructionline and BiP have signed a Memorandum of Understanding of mutual cooperation to benefit one another’s buyers and suppliers. This is fully supported by the DTI.
Select Accredit minimises the financial and administrative
burden on suppliers and buyers, and provides suppliers with
the assurance of knowing they have achieved a public sector
recognised standard.
The Society of Procurement Officers in Local Government (SOPO),
the leading procurement organisation for local government
buyers with over 2500 members, has endorsed Select Accredit.
Select Accredit will be provided free of charge to buyers as part of BiP’s proven Delta e-tendering system (Delta-ets). With more than 60,000 suppliers already electing to register with Select, BiP’s free online supplier information database service, and over 8000 buyers across the UK registered to view this information, BiP is uniquely positioned to offer an expert supplier accreditation service.
The service is SME-friendly, with annual fees starting from as low as £70 plus VAT. The fees are solely dependent on a company’s overall turnover, therefore charges are always proportional to that company’s ability to pay and the value it will derive from the service.
Ron Burges, CEO of BiP Solutions, said: “By providing buyers and suppliers with a common resource, Select Accredit aims to simplify the process of gaining accreditation and reduce the resources ordinarily required. This will afford buyers and suppliers alike an increased confidence when entering into the tendering process and offer them a greater number of opportunities to engage in successful relationships.”
