We know the festive season is close at hand when supermarkets start stocking family-sized tubs of Quality Street, Mariah Carey is on the radio, and the office Secret Santas have all been drawn out of the hat. But there’s another early warning system to alert us to the imminent arrival of Old Saint Nick: the traditional Christmas lights switch on.
While it’s obvious if you think about it, not everyone realises Christmas has its own industry when it comes to bids and proposals. Contracts Finder tells us that since 2015, over 400 public sector Christmas contracts have been awarded, and the lucky winners have clearly all been on Santa’s nice list. There have been contracts for Christmas kids’ clubs, Christmas bus services, sourcing Christmas trees, disposing of Christmas trees, and for various Christmas events, pantomimes, temporary ice rinks and such like. But around half of all Christmas contracts are for festive light displays with contract values from a few thousand pounds to over £1 million. Christmas, even for the winter wonderland of proposals, has been big business.
When it comes to subject matter expertise, most of us are limited to the bare minimum of knowledge required to haphazardly wrap lights around our own tree (or, for those with a CP APMP, perhaps the slightly higher skills to illuminate a life-sized reindeer on your driveway). But fully managed solutioning and value propositioning in Christmas lighting is complex. There’s a sack full of tasks to contemplate; inspection, testing, installation, tree dressing, maintenance, derig, removal, technical support for the switch-on ceremony and (dare I say) ‘elf and safety.
One recent brief stipulated that: “The theme must be colourful and classic, adding to the visual appeal and charm of the town centre, attracting attention, encouraging social media sharing, and promoting the town as a vibrant and attractive regional destination.” Strewth! That might call for bit more than just leaving out a glass of milk, a mince pie, and a carrot for Rudolph.
But this grand festive tradition is under threat from town hall Grinches and Treasury Scrooges. Many councils cancelled or downgraded their Christmas lights in 2023 in the wake of challenging budget outlooks, and Sheffield, Havering, Romford, and St. Neots are amongst the places to do the same in 2024. Humbug, I hear you say! But it’s a stark choice for those holding the purse strings, choosing between critical services or sprinkling a little festive spirit.
So there are fewer Christmas lights and fewer Christmas light proposals – but let’s hope it’s just a temporary blip. After all, who doesn’t want to see stars of wonder, stars of light, stars with royal beauty bright? Especially when they are festively draped between the lampposts of your local high street.
A very Happy Christmas to one and all!
Jim Carley
Jim Carley, founder and Managing Director of Carley Consult Ltd, leads a top bid consultancy in the vocational education, employability, and justice sectors. His firm won APMP’s UK Supplier of the Year Award in 2021. He chairs APMP UK’s Procurement Group, is Vice President of the Doncaster Chamber of Commerce, and directed Doncaster’s successful city status bid in 2022. His book on the campaign is available here.
