Procurement
drive for small businesses
Sector: Central Government
Date Created: Wed 30th Apr 2008,
15:17:32
Source: Department for Business,
Enterprise and Regulatory Reform
Link: www.berr.gov.uk
UK - Buyers will be able to attract more potential bidders when
a free trial begins to draw thousands more small businesses to http://www.supply2.gov.uk,
the national lower-value contracts website.
The http://www.supply2.gov.uk website has over 75,000 registered small businesses
looking for lower-value public sector contracts typically worth under £100,000.
Business Minister Shriti Vadera said:
"Encouraging more small businesses to register for
opportunities will mean buyers benefit from increased competition and access
to a wider range of suppliers.
"Many small businesses are more innovative, have lower costs and present
better value for contracts than larger firms."
John Wright, Federation of Small Businesses National Chairman said:
"The announcement of a free trial for small businesses
to get access to public sector contracts is very welcome news. We supported the
Supply2 initiative from the outset and we hope that this free trial period will
encourage more small businesses to try their hand at delivering goods and services
to the public sector.
"But local authorities and government departments must play their part too
by making sure that more small business opportunities are advertised on Supply2.
Opening up public sector procurement to the UK's 4.5 million small businesses
can and should eradicate the false assumption that biggest is always best."
Registration for public sector buyers is free. Buyers with an existing procurement
website can link their service directly to http://www.supply2.gov.uk.
The drive to attract more of Britain's 4.5 million small businesses to http://www.supply2.gov.uk is part of a wider strategy to help reduce the barriers faced by smaller firms
when bidding to supply to government.
The Enterprise Strategy, released in March, featured a range of measures to boost
the number of small firms competing for public procurement.
An advisory committee, headed by Anne Glover, will look at ways to reduce barriers
to that small businesses face when competing for public sector contracts and
the practicality of setting a goal for them to win 30 per cent of public sector
business within five years.
The Strategy also included an announcement that the rules for government procurement
will be changed to allow companies, particularly small firms, to use invoice
financing to compete for public contracts.
|
