Olympics - A piece of the action

Published on Tue 1st Nov 2005

Now that London has won the contest to host the 2012 Olympics, people are beginning to ask some tough questions about the games. Amongst other things, the Olympics are supposed to bring economic benefits to London.

So I was not surprised that so many Londoners have contacted me to find out how they or local businesses in their area can get a piece of the action.

The popular perception is that all the processes are in place to start awarding contracts and get on with this vast project. The reality is very different.

Two key bodies are responsible for the delivery of the Olympics: the Olympic Delivery Authority (ODA) and the London Organising Committee of the Olympic Games (LOCOG). A good analogy of these bodies' roles would be to imagine how a new theatre would be put together - the ODA would build the theatre and the LOCOG would stage the play.

The ODA will be responsible for the infrastructure, such as decontaminating the land, burying 14km of power lines underground, building the athletes' village and fitting it out. LOCOG, on the other hand, will be responsible for everything to do with putting on the show, including providing catering, security, press facilities, operating the sporting venues and running the volunteer programme.

The first hurdle is that the ODA cannot officially exist until the Olympics Bill goes through parliament (probably not until spring 2006). Until then, the London Development Agency is acting on the ODA's behalf.

The LDA has already awarded contracts for 'undergrounding' the power cables and decontaminating the land. The vast majority of the other contracts will not go out to tender until 2008 and, when they do, European law dictates that they must be advertised Europe-wide as well as within the UK. This will be done via the Official Journal of the European Union as well as in key UK trade journals and on the LDA website's 'tenders' section.

The London Assembly's Economic Development, Culture, Sport and Tourism Committee, which I chair, has been designated as the Assembly's lead committee for the Olympic Games/ Our first Olympic scrutiny will take place on 29th November.

This scrutiny will investigate how small and medium-sized businesses in London will be able to get a piece of the action. We will be taking evidence from a wide range of organisations and individuals. Before the scrutiny, the vice-chair and I will be meeting the London Chamber of Commerce and some of their members, to identify the issues.

We are determined that small London companies will get their share of the contracts. The Mayor and the London Development Agency are on record as

saying: "Our challenge now is to make sure Londoners and businesses of every size have a chance to access the opportunities that these games will bring."

The economic benefits will be there - but only if we monitor the situation closely and give all the help and advice we can, to ensure London's SMEs can take full advantage of this opportunity. We will continuously pile on the pressure to ensure that this is achieved.