Government contracts opened up to SMEs

Small and medium-sized enterprises are to be put in a better position to apply for public sector contracts, through new measures announced by the Cabinet Office.

Prime Minister David Cameron said that the move would open up "billions of pounds' worth of new business opportunities" to the country's small businesses and will stop government contracts from being monopolised by big businesses.

He said there would be a major cutting of "excessive bureaucracy and petty regulation", which has largely been responsible for shutting SMEs out of being able to make effective and efficient bids in the procurement process.

"We need to make the system more open to new providers, more competitive between suppliers and more transparent for the taxpayer," Mr Cameron said.

One of the major proposals in the plan is to get rid of pre-qualification questionnaires (PQQs) for any procurement by central government below the value of £100,000. Suppliers would instead only have to submit their pre-qualification date just once for all procurement concerning common commodities.

A new website has also been launched, called Contracts Finder, which will display details of all contracts in the public sector worth more than £10,000.