GLASGOW-based procurement intelligence firm BiP Solutions, which has grown from a south-side Portakabin to a multi-million-pound turnover, is launching a new product for the healthcare procurement market.
The new Health Contracts International (HCI) platform uses artificial intelligence to help suppliers identify, track, and analyse buying activity and contract opportunities across the healthcare sector.
BiP Solutions, a second-generation family business, founded in 1984 by businessman Ron Burges, is headed by his son Simon, at the headquarters at Pacific Quay and now employs 160 staff across the UK.
The business started life as a journal of local government tenders, which Burges cut out of his local paper, and has grown into a “tech-led, procurement powerhouse”.
BiP Solutions has the Crown Commercial Service, Ministry of Defence, NHS, Scottish and Welsh Governments and a number of local authorities, among its client base of hundreds of UK public sector organisations.
The platform uses AI to increase search relevance, boosting the visibility of current and future tender opportunities across the healthcare sector.
Simon Burges, chief executive of BiP Solutions, said: “We have a great pedigree of creating business intelligence platforms which deliver customer value and see HCI as the next generation from a tech point-of-view. It also complements our other services that help thousands of suppliers and buyers engage and work successfully together.
“HCI is a hugely exciting product for us, especially when NHS spending is increasing dramatically, both in response to the Covid-19 pandemic and the long-term commitment to invest more in healthcare, as outlined in the Government’s recent Spending Review.”
Mr Burges also said: “By surfacing more opportunities than ever before, we believe HCI will enable this investment to be accessed by a far wider supply base, providing buyers with a greater choice of innovative and high-value products and services.
“It is a proud moment to see all our development work come to fruition and to play our part in connecting suppliers with the health sector at such a critical time in its history.”
