Federation welcomes Government contract red tap move
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The FSB has
welcomed the government's commitment to overhaul the way that small
businesses will be able to compete for public sector contracts,
through cutting red tape and being more open and transparent.
Public sector procurement has long been an issue for small
businesses, with 70 per cent of SMEs rarely bidding for public
sector contracts due to a lack of awareness of the opportunities
that are available and the red tape surrounding the application
process.
For many small firms, access to public sector contracts comes
through local government - with 27 per cent of FSB members
supplying this sector. The FSB has long campaigned that local
government is more transparent in the contracts that it has
available, in the same way central government is, and the
commitment to do this is a welcome step.
Recent research into small firms' access to public procurement
markets across the EU places the UK 24th out of 27 member states,
with only 24 per cent of contracts going to small firms, compared
to 44 per cent in France.
Small and micro businesses do particularly badly in the UK, with
only an estimated 11 per cent of the total value of contracts being
awarded to businesses of that size. This is despite the fact that
small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) account for 49 per cent
of the UK's turnover.
The FSB is pleased that the government has recognised that these
barriers exist and has committed to making the process simpler. The
initiatives, such as the reform of the pre-qualification
questionnaire (PQQ) process and more transparency through a new
contracts website, as well as providing a dedicated voice for small
firms' views to be heard, will mean more small businesses having
the potential to access work.
We have worked hard to ensure that small firms have the same
access to public sector contracts as big businesses.
These measures will now need to be accompanied by a genuine
cultural change within government procurement in terms of its
approach to dealing with small businesses.
Removing the need to fill in a PQQ for smaller contracts is a
bold move but it is vital that something more bureaucratic or
confusing does not emerge in its place.†We hope the promise of a
dedicated voice for small suppliers within government will help to
prevent this.
The good thing is that the government is going to publish
figures on the amount of contracts going to SMEs so we will be able
to measure its success and hold the government to account if it is
not working.
That type of measurement and transparency is something we'd like
to see adopted more widely across the public sector.
Tuesday, March 08 2011
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