Saturday Posting 

Not common I know but we live in unusual times. The CDS Q & A document is, and will become, essential reading. Please note Q. 12 make sure you have a Partner/Director with user logon details for final publication.

TIF News 

The Tender Information Form V.3 does not incorporate the functions of the Post Code Tool i.e. it does not restrict your application to those schemes on which you can have membership. The Post Code tool has reappeared here in the main LSC website. Presumably you have to use that first and then select the allowable […]

PSAIF 

The Private Sector Applicant Information Form (PSAIF) is an element of the Pre Qualification Questionnaire (PQQ). This is a Microsoft Excel spreadsheet seeking financial disclosure and equal opportunities profiles which you are “required” to upload to your final bid. During the Immigration bid window the LSC refused to clarify if this was mandatory, and continue […]

White Winter 

My trans-pennine trip has had to be aborted due to the closure of the M62, snow and ice. So after a very early start (for me) I am back in my civies at my home office. I will now try to do the days work on-line instead. This seems like an appropriate song in the […]

Please Tell Me I Am Wrong 

Version 3 of the CDS Tender Information Form might be broken as well. It seems to allow you to bid in every Duty Scheme in the UK at “Stage 2”. Is V.4 on its way soon?

A Complete Shower (of…… ) 

The “e-portal” (Malcolm Tucker trans. ‘e-S*!thole morelike’) opened on Monday at 4pm. Off we went, Andy and I, neither of us with a spare half hour of business time available before the portal closes, to assist our clients. Returning from such a visit I listened to left-field, whimsical, popsters Belle and Sebastian to calm my […]

Be Warned 

An early morning phone call reminds me there are still those who think that the cancellation of the BVT pilots means there is nothing for CDS suppliers to do in advance of July. For the avoidance of doubt; The 2010 Standard Contract Tender is now OPEN. Every renewal we encounter firms who misunderstand and consequently […]

Book Early 

A month of madness has begun. General tasks, follow-up work, preparation, management and posting here are all banished to early mornings and evenings. All our days, up to the close of the Crime bid window, are now full, and that with the window only a few hours open. We do have space for a small […]

Me and the Devil 

As I said last week Gil Scott-Heron’s new album, “I’m New Here”, is out now. It is a fantastic piece of work. I have never been any good as an amateur music critic but it as powerful as any of his previous work whilst being musically more radical (or at least contemporary). For those who […]

Guidance 

Here is a useful Practice Note from TLS concerning 2010 Civil Contract and especially, in Section 3.1 the pending definitions for supervisory status. These are released before their appearance on the LSC site. This will be of particular interest to family firms.