BUSINESS Secretary Vince Cable has told the Derby Telegraph that the Government has learned "the lessons from Derby" on how it gives out big contracts – including those to build trains.

The claim comes as officials prepare to launch a competition for the £1 billion contract to build trains for the Crossrail scheme, a deal which it is believed would secure the future of Bombardier's factory in Derby.

There has been unwelcome speculation that the competition process will be carried out along similar lines to the Thameslink deal, which critics have claimed put Bombardier at a disadvantage to competitors.

But speaking in Westminster yesterday, Mr Cable said future procurement processes would see officials "trying to think more strategically, trying to think more long term, [learning] the lessons from Derby".

After the Government named German firm Siemens as preferred bidder for Thameslink, Bombardier announced it would have to shed 1,400 jobs and review its UK operations, a process which could end in the firm abandoning its Litchurch Lane base.

Ministers said the way the tender had been set up by Labour and EU anti-protectionism laws prevented them from taking any other decision on the contract.

But critics asked how French and German governments managed to give rail contracts to firms in their own countries without breaking the same European regulation.

To find out, ministers launched a review of UK procurement processes which heard how other EU states tailored contracts so they were more likely to be won by home-based firms, but did not break rules against protectionism.

The Government then announced at the start of 2012 that it would adopt an approach closer to that of its French and German counterparts.

Mr Cable said: "When I talked about 'lessons', what I think we've been trying to focus on is trying to make sure that in future, procurement in the UK is done rather better than it has been in the last decade or so, when there was quite a lot of very short-term thinking [and] off-the-peg purchases.

"We are moving towards a system where the supply chain is given advanced notice of new contracts so they can plan around it, where we have officials in Whitehall who are properly trained in an approach to procurement that takes account of all this."

He added: "But we also recognise that we are in a competitive market place and are subject to European Union rules and we are not protectionist. So what I'm talking about is not a black and white change but a shift in the culture around procurement – which is more long-term and strategic in its thinking."

However Derby South Labour MP Margaret Beckett suggested people in the city would reserve judgment on the Government's changes until the winner of the Crossrail deal was named.

"Of course Vince Cable's words are welcome. But people that have dealt with Bombardier know two things. The first is that there always has been a problem with forward planning that has made looking to the future very difficult," she said.

"The second is that in the past, when Bombardier has not won a contract, the people in charge have always made encouraging noises about the next contract coming up. But the proof of the pudding will be in the eating."

It is widely thought that if the company can win two smaller contracts that can tide it over until the next major Government rail deal comes along – the £1 billion Crossrail project – then bosses might be persuaded to keep open the factory in the short term. One of those contracts has already been secured – a £188 million deal to build 130 Electrostar carriages for Southern Railway.