Welsh Assembly Government (WAG) - Small and Medium Enterprise (SME) friendly procurement
Example of:
How good procurement practices can help improve sustainability.
Key points:
- WAG has drawn up a charter for SMEs to help them to access the government marketplace
- It is estimated that for every one per cent increase in speanding within Wales, an extra 2,000 local jobs could be created
The Business Procurement Task Force in Wales has drawn up a Charter for SME-friendly procurement called 'Opening Doors'. The aim of the charter is to make it easier for SMEs to do business with the public sector by setting out principles that public sector organisations can sign up to, such as keeping tendering processes as simple as possible and making themselves more accessible and open to queries from SMEs.
So far, 120 bodies have signed up, and WAG is moving into Phase II, which is embedding the principles into the organisations. This will include full guidance about the practical meaning of the principles. An analysis of spend undertaken in 2003 when researching the Charter, indicated that £4 billion was being spent by Assembly funded bodies on external goods and services, 35% of which was being won by Wales based companies (mainly SMEs). A second spend analysis undertaken in 2006/2007 indicted that the spend had grown to £4.5 billion with 49% being won by Wales based companies. Whilst this progress has been widely welcomed, it is recognised that much more can be done to capitalise on research, which indicates that for every 1% point increase in public contracts being awarded to Welsh SMEs, an extra 2,000 jobs can be created.
There are a number of barriers, either real or perceived, that prevent SMEs from engaging with the public sector. These include the process being too bureaucratic and costly, a lack of awareness about who to contact about business opportunities and a trend towards longer contracts as a result of the drive to improve value for money. The principles in the Charter are intended to help to address these issues.