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Should we publish bid results? (QotW)
by Daniel on 4 Jul, 2008 in
We've published the Pathways to Work, NDDP, ESF and fND PQQ results prior to their official announcement on the DWP website. However, the DWP are apparently a bit grumpy about this - their view is that it jumps the gun and that subcontractors and staff in companies will assume results that may still change. Conversely, most providers and subcontractors I speak to say they prefer to find out what's going on as soon as possible.
What do you think? Should we publish future results or not?
For reference, civil servants have been given the go-ahead to participate in online forums as an important tool in engaging with customers and stakeholders. The official guidance is here.
Publish away...............
In my opinion, the more information you can publish about fND, the better. Whether it's news about providers and contracts, or the fND process itself as it takes shape. The more provider staff and DWP staff know about the developing situation, the better, surely?
Obviously, if there are sensitive contract issues that are not yet resolved, you could probably do with some sort of official clearance before publishing stuff. I would rather know about what IS actually happening than just gossip about providers.
It doesn't make much difference to us when you publish bid results. Why is it important?
Publish. As long as you make it clear that it is rumour then people can make their own judgements, and companies can make up their own minds as to whether they leak results early.
It's just industry gossip, but it is empowering for people in companies that might be affected.
I agree it should be published.
In many ways I, as a deaf person, find Indus Delta to be invaluable giving me much more access than I would have otherwise. I cannot just pick up the phone to call any of my contacts with other providers for the latest gossip or "watercooler" discussions.
As I rely on email for communication, there are often things such as this info on fND which cannot at the time be put into written form until confirmed so I inadvertly miss out things until formally confirmed.
Published and be damned I say!
Publish Away. If DWP don't like it who cares. Early information is very welcome in DWP Commissioning.
I agree publish and keep publishing any news is better than no news
I'd rather not be damned! The DWP have never officially spoken to me about any aspects of what I'm doing with this site. From what I can gather the reason they don't like news getting out early is that people will assume that anything I publish is the final, set-in-stone result, regardless of any warnings I hedge the news in with. I don't know if that's the view of senior DWP staff generally or not. Would anyone from the DWP care to comment?
I think Stephen Dering points out an important purpose of what I'm trying to do: rumours have a lot of power and spread very quickly in this industry. However, they spread the power of information unequally, and provide no accountability or redress. Most of the industry knows who won what within a day of preferred bidders being told, but equally, most of the industry 'knows' that A4e are about to go bankrupt when no such thing is the case.
Yes, I agree. Any information is always welcome.
Fair point, but if you don't push the boundaries then there ain't much point in running a forum. Sharing information equally is an impossibility, but more people will visit the site if it gains kudos as being an essential resource.
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