Post-Recession Growth Sectors?

Pointing out future business

These difficult financial times are testing the resources of every business out there in the EU. Even the most hardened economic experts are reluctant to predict when the current recession will end and what life will be like afterwards. There is little doubt that things will never go back to ‘normal’.

Doom and gloom aside – this recession will one day come to an end and there is little doubt that tenders opportunites will still exist, however, uncovering these niches will require a little more intelligence and analysis than before.

The question is – what form will these opportunities take, and in what sectors are they most likely to materialise?

Surely, businesses within the EU public sector are going to have to become smarter. For example, there seems little point in trying to compete with China when it comes to large scale manufacturing or individual product markets – instead focus wil be more likely to shift into niches within these sectors. This could also act as the clarion call to the long-belegaured manufacturing sector – smaller scale and knowledge-led could be the answer.

All this is obviously conjecture on our part, and to be perfectly honest we need your help on this – what are most likely to come out of the current downturn as the most valuable sectors?

Please vote in our poll…

Format of the OJEU

Every working day the Official Journal of the European Union (OJEU, formerly OJEC) is published in each of the twenty langauges that make up the European Union. The publication itself consists of three sections or ‘series’ which cover information and notices, legislation and public procurement.

There are three essential types of notice which are of direct concern to businesses looking to win public sector contracts – these are pre-information notices, invitations to tender and contract awards.

There are however, certain difficulties faced in deciphering the nature of data published in the OJEU.

• Due to the sheer volume of opportunities on offer it can take to find those contracts which will match your business needs – there are a number of OJEU notice services that can help you with this.
• Drilling down to the correct categories of contracts can be difficult
• Translation issues – OJEU notices are almost always submitted in the language of the county where the tender is offered. This is translated using an automated service that can provide inconsistent results, and many opportunites can be brushed over as a result.

The awarding authorities for public sector tenders are central government, local or regional authorities, bodies governed by public law, or organisations containing one or more of these bodies. There is over 300bn Euro worth of of public secTor contract works awarded each year – and over 1000 invitations to tender are published on a daily basis – as you can see, there are plenty of opportunities out there!

These are just some of the details that you can find within the OJEU – good luck with any opportunities that you come accross, and if anyone has any further advice – please don’t hesitate to comment.