Mystery Shopper Web Chat with Stephen Allott - Wednesday 19th December 2012

In recent weeks, Informed Solutions’ Chief Executive Elizabeth Vega has worked with the Cabinet Office and Intellect to better understand and profile the Cabinet Office’s Mystery Shopper service and how it can support SMEs.  The attached flyer is a collaboration between the Cabinet Office, Intellect and Informed Solutions and it serves to introduce the service and demonstrate just how effective and helpful it is to SMEs trying to do business with government.

Stephen Allott, the Cabinet Office’s Crown Representative for SMEs actively supports the Mystery Shopper service and will be running a Web Chat on Wednesday, 19 December from 3-4pm.  He will be explaining the service and would like to invite all SMEs to attend his Web Chat, as well as help us spread the good word. 

Stephen has tweeted about this (below) and it would be great if other SMEs could re-tweet and share with contacts and colleagues:

Stephen Allott (@SMECrownRep), 14/12/2012 17:12, “Join my #mysteryshopper webchat on 19 Dec at 3pm and share your #sme procurement experiences cabinetoffice.gov.uk/content/myster… - spread the word!”

Stephen wants to hear about SMEs’ experiences of using Mystery Shopper and bidding for public sector contracts.

SMEs can get involved in the Cabinet Office’s Web Chat by:

• tweeting us now using the hashtag #MysteryShopper
• posting questions or observations on our Web Chat page from 11am on Wednesday 19 December
• taking part in our online poll and telling us how you find out about government contract opportunities

The link to the Web Chat page is www.cabinetoffice.gov.uk/content/mystery-shopper-live-chat.

Stephen Allott will be answering as many questions as possible between 3-4pm on Wednesday.

The Mystery Shopper scheme offers an anonymous way for suppliers to report any problems or issues with the way a public sector contract has been run.  The Cabinet Office will investigate and, regardless of whether it’s a local authority or a central government department, take action as necessary.

Have a quick look at the attached flyer as it will help introduce you to Mystery Shopper.  The latest stats demonstrate that the service has so far received 285 cases, of which 228 have been closed, with 75% of them resulting in a positive outcome.  For example, a current or planned procurement was changed or the supplier gained a better understanding of the procurement process.

See more about the Cabinet office Crown Rep for SMEs....

http://www.cabinetoffice.gov.uk/content/crown-representative-smes-stephen-allott