The government has launched a consultation aiming to make it easier for small and medium-sized organisations to bid for public sector contracts.
Making public sector procurement more accessible to SMEs, launched yesterday, and is for all small and medium enterprises (SMEs), including not-for-profits. The Cabinet Office hopes it will lead to a simpler and easier process for organisations that are trying to win work across the public sector.
The consultation includes a proposal to ensure suppliers further down the supply chain benefit from the same standard payment terms that public bodies offer prime contractors to ensure prompt payment for public sector work.
Other ideas include removing “burdensome” pre-qualification questionnaires for low-value public sector contracts, while introducing a single standardised requirement for high-value contracts; and introducing a requirement for all public sector contracts over £10,000 to be accessible on the same site.
The consultation comes after the Prime Minister’s advisor on enterprise and small business, Lord Young of Graffham, published Growing your business: a report on growing micro businesses back in May, which recommended developing a set of “single market” principles to be applied by all public bodies in their procurement.
The consultation will also consider whether performance bonds, which act as a financial guarantee for suppliers, can impact adversely on SMEs.
“With £230bn per year spent on goods and services right across the whole public sector, government wants to seize the opportunity to help hard-working SMEs get on by competing for and winning this business,” said Cabinet Office minister Chloë Smith.
“In the past bidding for public sector contracts was time-consuming, expensive and overly bureaucratic. Removing barriers and setting out a consistent, single set of SME-friendly principles for the whole public sector will provide the right support to encourage significant business and growth opportunities for SMEs, and help give the UK a better starting position in the global race.”
The consultation can be found on the Cabinet Office website here.
SMEs account for 99.9 per cent of the UK’s 4.5 million businesses, according to government data.
