Welcome to the PCG Portal. This document is a collection of Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) about the Portal. When you have time, it will be worthwhile to read the whole document - it will provide you with valuable information to help you get the most from the site.

A printer-friendly version is also available. This is also a good version to download for off-line reading.

If you are in a hurry, you should read our Quickstart Guide. This includes The absolute minimum you need to get going!

We've also marked the more essential parts of this document with Q. These will provide you with the information you need to do things like enter your Profile and ITTs, and search for ITTs. When you have time, you should read the rest of the document.

Can't find the information you're looking for? Suggestions for improvements to the site or FAQs? Found a bug? Fill out this easy-to-use Help Form and we'll get back to you.

What is this site about?

This site is the new marketplace for knowledge-based contractors. It will change the face of contracting in the UK by giving you direct access to some of the best small contracting and consultancy companies in the UK and driving out the costs in the industry.

This site is about developing business relationships and partnerships. It is about new ways of getting your projects completed for less cost and less risk. It allows you to find contractors and work with them in the way most suitable to your business.

For the first-time businesses large and small can have direct access to the most talented and dynamic contracting companies in the IT and Engineering fields, covering everything from Internet design and development through to safety engineers for offshore platforms.

This site gives you continuous access and total control over selecting your partners. You choose the criteria to use for searching our database, and you can post an Invitation to Tender (ITT) which allows member companies and consortia to tender for work previously considered too large or too trivial to be handled by contractors.

What can I do on this site? Q

You can search our database of company profiles to find the best knowledge based contracting companies to work with you and make your projects happen. See the Search FAQ for more details.

If you register as a Portal User, or join the PCG as an associate member, you can enter an Invitation to Tender in the database. This allows contractors to assess your requirements and to contact you to tender for the business if they feel they have the right expertise and resources. This encourages a true competitive marketplace that can only help keep your costs down. See the ITT FAQ for more details.

Why should I use this site?

Because this site gives you unique direct access to thousands of the best IT and engineering contracting companies in the country.

The companies offer some of the most experienced professionals in their fields and the direct access means exceptional value for money for you. Also see What sort of contracting companies will I find on this site? and Are these companies good value?

You have complete control of how you make contact and negotiate contracts with these companies. You can choose to search the database of member company profiles and then make contact with the most suitable companies, or you can post an ITT and allow members to competitively tender for your business.

How do I use this site? Q

You can search for suitable company profiles or you can post an ITT to which companies can respond.

To search you type in keywords to identify the kind of company you are looking for and then search the members database for matching companies. The search results will be presented in a similar manner to the familiar Internet search engines. See the Search FAQ for more details.

Posting an ITT allows you to advertise your requirements to more than 10,000 member companies. Those companies able to meet your requirements then contact you to express an interest and tender for the work. This creates a healthy market and gets you the best supplier at the best price. See the ITT FAQ for more details.

To post an ITT you need to join as an Associate member of the PCG. See the PCG FAQ for more details.

How much does it cost to use this site?

It costs nothing to use the basic facilities on this site. Searching for member companies profiles is available for public use free of charge. More advanced features such as entering company profiles and ITTs are also available free of charge to everyone. See the PCG FAQ for more information.

What sort of contracting companies will I find on this site?

Small contracting companies from the IT, Engineering and associated sectors.

These companies are able to provide a vast range of services in a multitude of industry sectors. On this site you will be able to find specialists in fields as diverse as e-commerce and web design and development, embedded real-time systems, structural and civil engineering through to hydrographic surveying.

If you need specialist advice or services in IT or Engineering, you will find someone to provide it on this site.

Also see What size projects can these companies take on? and Are these companies good value?

What size projects can these companies take on?

Almost any size of project. These range from small projects, such as an hour or two of consultancy or a simple web site design, through to million pound projects.

Our member companies are able to take on these larger projects because they have access to a network of similar professional companies with which they can rapidly and easily form consortia. This gives them a tremendous advantage over their larger competitors in that expertise to form these consortia can be instantly available for one project and can then be broken down and re-moulded into an exact fit for the next project.

Are these companies good value?

Most definitely yes. The companies on this site offer an unparalleled level of experience and price competitiveness that their larger competitors can only dream of.

Some of the reasons for this value are:

1. All the member companies were founded by seasoned industry professionals with many years experience in their field. These founders are still providing services to their clients personally, and can provide you with the benefit of their considerable expertise and experience.
2. You have direct access to these companies so there are no intermediaries' charges to pay. These charges are typically 20% or more of the cost of the services, which immediately gives you a direct saving.
3. The flexibility and lower overheads of member companies compared to their larger competitors means that they are often able to provide services at 50% less than the large consultancies.
4. By agreeing a contract of services rather than a pseudo-employment contract you are able to make further savings through the elimination of employment costs. See Is there a preferred contract type?

What is the PCG?

The PCG is the Professional Contractors Group, the representative body for small contracting and consultancy companies in the knowledge based industries.

The PCG was set up in May 1999 in response to IR35, and has since developed into an effective voice for the industry. It is the fastest growing representative body the country has ever seen.

Membership of the PCG is invited from small contracting and consultancy companies in the IT, Engineering and associated sectors.

Associate Membership is invited from Clients, Agents, Accountants, Lawyers and other Representative bodies in these knowledge based sectors.

If you would like to find out more about or to join the PCG as either a member or as an associate, please see the PCG website.

Is this site a PCG agency? Is the PCG trying to replace agencies?

No. Many of our associate members are agencies. We are not trying to compete with any value added services that they provide. We are providing a new and additional avenue to find and contact contractors, and indeed agencies are free to use this service.

However where an agency does not add value to the business relationship, we believe they should not be part of the equation.

Why should I become an Associate member?

Associate membership gives you access to the PCG's on-line filestore on IR35 and other related material. You will also have access to a number of discussion forums where you can ask member companies general technical and business questions.

See What is the PCG? for more information on the PCG.

How do I become an Associate member?

Complete an online registration form on the PCG site. This form also accepts online payment.

Once payment has been received you are able to use the associate facilities on the main PCG site.

The first thing you should do is complete a profile for your company as member companies will often view this before responding to any ITT you post.

Does the PCG become involved in contract negotiations?

No. All contract negotiations are conducted directly between the parties involved.

However the PCG does offer general support and advice to members within its discussion forum and filestore. See What is the PCG? for more details.

Does the PCG take a cut of the contract price?

No. The PCG just provides a vehicle for members to advertise their services and for portal usersto advertise the work they have available. All contractual details, including cost and payments, are a matter for the parties directly involved to negotiate with each other.

How do I use the search facility? Q

Click on the "Find Profile" button on the navigation bar.

Enter the keywords to search for in the text box and select any location filters from the menu. Then click on the search button.

The search results will be displayed in list form with the most relevant results displayed first.

You can view the details of a profile by clicking on the "View Details" link.

You can also restrict the search to profiles that have been updated within a certain number of days.

You may also search for member profiles based on the company name or the contact name. In both of these you may use a '%' sign to search using partial matching - e.g. Sm%th% would find Smith, Smythe and Smithers

If you are looking for a Company in a specific location, you can also search by postcode and/or by postal town. Both of these fields also accept wildscards, just like the company name above.

What are keywords? Q

Keywords are words used to highlight the services a company provides or the services required for an ITT.

Keywords are used by the search engine to determine the relevance of a profile or ITT for a search query.

Keywords primarily indicate the services (required or provided) and the skills and expertise necessary to provide those services. Keywords may also indicate industry sectors or application domains, certification and security requirements, etc.

For example, if you wanted to sub-contract the testing of an Air Traffic Control simulator, you might search for:

+test cantata C++ ATC simulation X/Runner

where

1. test is the service to be provided (mandatory)
2. cantata, X/Runner and C++ are the expertise and tools required
3. ATC and simulation are the industry sector and application domain

Alternatively, you may know the service you require but know little about the technical requirements. For example you may need an e-commerce site for your business but don't know what the appropriate skills or technology would be. In this instance you could search for: e-commerce, web design and development. This would produce a list of companies offering these services, but you would still have to check the profiles of these companies to assess their suitability.

A better alternative may be to post your requirements as an ITT and allow member companies to produce a tender that you feel comfortable with and understand.

How do I assess the search results?

The search results are presented in a form similar to many standard internet search engines.

The search results are presented as a relevancy score, the name/title of the profile and a link to view more details.

The relevance score indicates the number of search keywords that were matched with the keywords attached to a profile or ITT. If you entered 5 search keywords then a relevance score of 3 would indicate 3 of the 5 keywords were found in the profile or ITT.

What should I do if I get too many search results?

You probably need to reduce the scope of your search, or alternatively post an ITT and ask interested companies to tender for the work.

You may want to consider reducing the number of locations in the search. Try restricting this to your own location.

You should also consider making several or all of the keywords you use for the search mandatory (i.e. by adding a '+' in front of the keyword). If you are only using a few keywords you should consider adding more mandatory keywords to this list which more exactly describe your requirement.

The best way to avoid searching long lists of search results is to post an ITT and allow interested member companies to contact you and to tender for the work. See What is an ITT?

What should I do if I get too few search results?

You probably need to expand the scope of your search, or alternatively post an ITT and ask interested companies to tender for the work.

You may want to consider including more locations: many of our member companies cover a wide area.

If you have used a very specific set of mandatory keywords (i.e. +keyword) then you should consider whether all these keywords are vital to the services you need. You may want to consider making some of these keywords optional (ie, by removing the '+').

It is possible that no member companies with the required business profiles currently have the capacity to take on additional work. The best way to test this is to post an ITT and allow interested member companies contact you to tender for the work. See What is an ITT?

What is an ITT? Q

ITT stands for Invitation to Tender. This is an industry term for initiating a competitive tender for the supply of services or goods.

How formal the tendering process will be on this site will depend on wishes of the person making the tender and the information they provide as part of the ITT.

An ITT may range from a simple "I need services X, Y and Z, please contact me if you are interested in providing them" through to very comprehensive tender instructions, perhaps including detailed requirements documents, which requires a formal fixed price tender without further questions and with specified tender documents. Often an ITT will fall somewhere between these extremes.

See What should I include in an ITT? for more details.

Why should I create an ITT?

You should create an ITT if you need goods or services and you think the member companies on this site may be able to provide them.

You should feel free to search for likely companies but an ITT may be preferred for the following reasons:

1. It saves you having to do the searching and having to contact a number of potential contracting companies who may not be interested. Instead only contracting companies really interested in the tender will contact you.

2. It encourages competition which is good for the market and may help to reduce your costs. However it would be unwise to evaluate tenders on cost alone.

How much does it cost to post an ITT?

All registered users of the Portal can post any number of ITTs free of charge, this includes Members and Associates of the PCG and registered Portal Users. Non-registered users cannot post ITTs.

See the PCG FAQ if you would like to find out more about PCG membership.

How do I create an ITT? Q

Click on the "My ITTs" button in the navigation bar. This will display a list of all your current ITTs.

Click on the "Create New ITT" button at the top of the ITT list and complete the displayed ITT form. When you are happy with the ITT details click on the "Submit" button.

This will show the ITT as it will be displayed to other users. If you are happy with it click on the "Sublit" button to make it available to member companies. If you want to abort or edit the ITT, use the browsers "back" button at any point before clicking on "Confirm".

See also What should I include in an ITT?

What should I include in an ITT? Q

What you include in an ITT depends on your required level of formality and the type of response you want to receive. You are in complete control of the tender process. You determine the information you want to include and the form you want the tender to take.

A very informal ITT may simply be "I need service X, please contact me by Y if you are interested in providing this service."

A very formal ITT for a complex project is likely to have significant supporting documentation, such as Tendering Instructions, Conditions of Tender, Form of Tender, Customer Requirements Specification, etc. In these instances it is advisable to give an overview of the tender requirements on the form and to provide details of how and where additional information can be obtained (eg from a separate web-site, by email, etc.)

Generally you should aim to provide as much pertinent information to avoid multiple requests for the same information from prospective tenderers.

Is there a preferred contract type?

Yes. It is in the interests of all concered that any contracts between businesses should be a contract for services (a business-to-business/self- employed contract) rather than a contract of service (an employment contract). This avoids any future employment issues.

If you wish to post an ITT for a contract of service (employment contract) you may do so, but be aware that positioning an intermediary (eg an agency) between the parties does not give any additional protection with regards to the IR35 legislation.

How do I edit an ITT? Q

Click on the "My ITTs" button in the navigation bar. This will display a list of all your current ITTs.

To view an ITT, click on the ITT title, and the ITT will be displayed just as other users of the portal would see it.

To edit the details for an ITT, click on the "Amend" button next to the ITT title. The ITT details will be displayed to you in form. Make the necessary changes and then click on the "Submit ITT" button to display the ITT as it will appear to other users.

If you are happy with the changes click the "Submit" button. Use the browser "Back" button if you want to re-edit or abort the changes.

Also see What should I include in an ITT?

How do I manage my ITTs?

Click on the "My ITTs" button in the navigation bar. This will display a list of all your current ITTs.

You should edit ITTs to reflect any material changes. When a tender is cancelled or awarded you can delete an ITT by clicking on the "delete" next to the ITT title. You will be asked to conform the deletion.

Also see How do I edit an ITT?

How do I delete an ITT?

From your list of ITTs, you can press the delete button to delete an ITT. Before the ITT is actually deleted, you will be presented with the full details of the ITT, and asked to confirm the deletion.

Who can view the ITTs I create?

No-one other than full contractor members of the PCG will be able to see the ITTs you may create.

How will member companies contact me?

That depends on the details and preferences you have provided in your profile (see What should I include in my profile?)

Your contact details are available to PCG members and so potential tenderers may contact you by e-mail, telephone or post, depending on the information you include in your profile.

You can indicate in the ITT your preferred method of contact.

How are contracts negotiated?

Contracts are negotiated directly between the parties involved, i.e. being the company placing the ITT and the company tendering. The PCG will play no part in contract negotiations.

Contractual conditions may be indicated in the ITT or its supporting documents and any tenderer would be expected to comply with those conditions.

The PCG has a suggested template for contracts.

Are there any recommended terms and conditions?

Yes. We recommend that contracts should be a contract for services (business-to-business contract) rather than a contract of service (employment contract).

The PCG has a suggested template for contracts.

What is a profile? Q

A profile is an overview of a company, its contact details and the services that it can provide.

You can use a profile as an opportunity to market your company to other users of this site.

Other users will be able to search for and browse your company's profile to see whether you can offer the services they require and whether you look like a company they will want to do business with.

Why should I create and keep an up-to-date profile?

Your profile is your marketing presence on this site.

A default profile will be created for you from the details you submitted when you joined the PCG, but you must edit this profile to make it active and available for the search engine and for other users to browse.

It is in your interest to keep this profile up-to-date because this is the information by which prospective clients will be assessing you. If your company introduces new services then users will not know about them unless you update your profile. Similarly if you withdraw services you should update your profile to avoid wasting your time and other users time sending and responding to requests for details of services you no longer offer.

How much does it cost to register a profile?

All members and associate members of the PCG can register a profile free of charge.

See the PCG FAQ if you would like to find out more about PCG membership.

How do I create a profile? Q

If you are a PCG Member, a default profile will automatically be created for you from the details you submitted when you joined the PCG. Non-Member users of the portal will need to input all their details. You may edit these details and fill in the blank sections to reflect your business. You must also change the access level if you wish your profile to be seen by other users.

Note that if you leave your profile as 'private' then no-one will be able to contact you !

See How do I edit my profile? and What should I include in my profile? for more details.

What should I include in my profile? Q

Your profile is your marketing presence on this site. You should include a profile of your company and the services it offers. Note: it is a business profile and not a CV. Staff CVs may be supplied as part of a tender or upon request.

The first part of your profile includes the contact and administrative details of your company. By default these will include the details you submitted when you joined the PCG.

The first section includes:

• Contact Person - name of person any potential client should ask to speak to. NB: This person should be fairly easy to contact, and knowledgeable about the situation.

• E-mail address to use for making contact.

• URL (web address) for the company web-site.

• Company Name

• Company Type (e.g. IT Consultancy, Web Development, Accountant, Agent, Solicitor, Software House, Marine Architect, etc.)

• Company Registration Number and VAT Registration Number.

• Address - usually the company's main trading address.

• Phone and FAX numbers - any of these numbers may be left blank if you do not want potential clients to use them to contact you.

The second section includes details about your company and the services it provides. The information entered here may be quite substantial and careful thought should be given on what to enter. These are the first details that clients may use to judge your suitability.

Each of these sections can hols a reasonbly large amount of text. You may wish to use your favourite editor and cut and paste the text in later.

A limited set of simple markup is available and line breaks in your text are preserved. If you wish to finely tune how your profile is presented, then you can also use full HTML. In both of these cases, you may wish to use your favourite editor and cut and paste the text in later. Also note that submitting the for will give you a full preview of your profile, exactly as other users will see it.

For more help on how to input markup and HTML, please click on the relevant field title on the form.

• Overview - This gives an overview of your business. You may want to consider including details such as the company's aims and objectives, the background of its staff (especially its key senior members) and the value and security they bring to the business.

• History - This section indicates when the company was formed and gives a brief summary of the work and services that it has provided since formation. This is typically a short paragraph for each major project undertaken. It is quite appropriate to include a synopsis of the previous experience of key staff to illustrate the depth of experience they bring to the company.

• Services - In many ways this is the key section of the profile. It is your opportunity to tell potential clients what your business offers. The first paragraph should be a short, punchy summary of your entire business, as this will be displayed as part of the search results. The services listed here may range from Project Management, Safety Consultancy, or Accountancy Services through to Web Hosting, PC and Network Installation, Java/COBOL/C++ Programming or Hovercraft Design.

The third section of your profile is critical because this is the section that is used by the search engine. This section lists the keywords to describe your business and services, together with the locations you are happy to provide those services. For more information see What are keywords?

The final section of your profile includes:

• Allow Access to - indicates who should be able to see your profile. See What are Access Levels?

• Availibility - indicates whether you wish to be included in Searches. Setting this to "no" will exclude you from all searches.

• E-mail Reports - e-mail reports are generated when ITTs matching some or all of your profile's keywords are submitted. You can chose whether to receive these reports sent immediately the ITT is entered, or have them batched together and sent daily or weekly.

What are Access Levels?

Access Levels are the mechanism that is used to determine who can view your company profile.

There are 4 different access levels:

• Private - your profile is only available to you for editing. No other users can view it or access it from a search.

• Member - your profile is available for viewing and for searches performed by full PCG members only.

• PortalUser - your profile is available for viewing and for searches performed by registered users, associates and full PCG members.

• Public - your profile is available for viewing and for searches performed by any user of the site, including non-registered casual public users. However, your contact deatils will only ever be shown to registered users of the portal.

It is expected that most members will keep their profiles either public or private. See also Why would I hide my profile?

How do I edit my profile?

Click on the "My Profile" button in the navigation bar.

Make the necessary changes and then click on the "submit" button.

Don't forget to set the required access level (see What are Access Levels?)

If you want to abort changes, use the browsers "back" button before clicking on "submit".

See also What should I include in my profile?

Can I delete my profile?

No, not directly. If you did this your company would have no presence on this site. However, you can mark your profile as private if you do not wish your profile to be available for other users as part of a search.

Your profile may be deleted automatically if you cease to be a member or associate member of the PCG.

How do I hide my profile?

You can hide your profile by setting its access level to 'private'. Your profile is then only available to you for editing. No other users can view it or access it from a search.

See Also Why would I hide my profile? Q

Why would I hide my profile?

If you are in the fortunate position of having as much work as you can handle, you may wish to temporarily hide your company's profile until you either finish some of the work or obtain more resources to take on additional work. This avoids wasting both your time and potential clients time in sending and responding to sales enqueries.

Also see How do I hide my profile?

How will potential clients contact me?

That depends on the details and preferences you have provided in your profile (see What should I include in my profile?)

If you choose to keep your contact details anonymous then potential clients will only be able to contact you via the e-mail address you provide (unless you include a URL to a company web-site that includes more contact details).

If your contact details are public then potential clients may contact you by e-mail, telephone or post, depending on the information you include in your profile.

What should I consider when writing my profile?

First and foremost, your business profile is not your CV. It is a profile of your company, not you personally. For a single-person company the history and services provided by the company will be derived from your CV but should be written from the company's perspective. You may provide your CV to support a tender or on request.

Your profile is there to sell your company, so it is worth spending time to get it right. Even then it is still potentially a small snap-shot of your business displayed in a constrained manner. You may wish to consider producing a company web-site that can provide more details and give an even more positive image of your company.

Another point to consider is your contact details. The profile has an option to keep your address and phone number hidden, forcing clients to communicate via e-mail. Consider what image this is portraying of your company. Many people still prefer to pick up the phone and expect to be able to speak to someone. This may give you difficulties if you are working on a client site, so it may be worth considering a 'virtual' office service.

How do I handle availability?

We have resolved to handle the availability issue simply with the ability to hide a profile from searches. If you can not take on more work you should make your profile 'unavailable'. and then make it 'available' again, say a month before you actually become available for contracts.

For those that are looking for other multiple income streams your profile can remain available, but be sensitive how you handle client/agent enquires.

We stand a very real danger that most members will have one main contract during the week, but keep their profiles public in the hope of picking up small jobs for the weekends/evenings. If a potential client searches the site to find suitable companies and contacts the top 30 only to find they are all unavailable, they will not form a very good impression of this site's usefulness.

This 'problem' will be kept under review and we may consider other options for solving it.

How do I search for ITTs? Q

Click on the "Find ITT" button in the navigation bar and then enter the keywords for the search in a similar manner to the Profile Search (see the Searching FAQ).

The results of the search will be displayed as a list of matching ITTs. Click on the "View More Details" link to see more of any ITT in which you are interested.