14 September 2001
The British Chamber of Commerce (BCC) has criticised local and central government procurement procedures for stacking the odds against small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and making it difficult for them to compete for government contracts.
Its report, Public procurement, produced after canvassing their 135,000 members on their experiences, was presented to Nigel Griffiths, the under-secretary of state for small business, on September 11.
The report said small businesses lacked knowledge of the process as well as the skills to bid successfully for contracts. It also criticised the legalese used in tender notices: 'The language used in tendering opportunities is often baffling and time-consuming to decipher, biasing the likely response towards larger firms.' Small businesses lose out on many contracts below £95,000 because they do not have to be advertised, according to the report. Many SMEs cannot take on larger contracts as this exposes them to too much risk.
The problems are exacerbated by the confused chains of command found in many of their public clients. One respondent said: 'It is not easy to get the names or speak to the right people in the right order. We lose out on contracts while being passed around from person to person.'
The BCC suggests ten solutions to make government procurement more of a level playing field. These include training seminars run by the Office of Government Commerce to alert SMEs to public procurement opportunities and coach them on the application process.
PFsep2001
