Whitehall needs to understand value of SMEs

The Cabinet Office's leading representative for small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) has said that Whitehall operatives need to understand that small businesses can often work just as effectively - if not more so - than bigger businesses, when it comes to their contract work.

Stephen Allott, the Cabinet Office's part-time Crown Representative for SMEs, said civil servants need convincing that small companies could deliver "best value". He added that it will take up to two years before Whitehall stops excluding small businesses from work they could do more effectively than larger rivals.

Allott explained that the system was undergoing gradual change - but that it was taking longer than expected.

"Phase one is not excluding people by accident when the government is buying something that they could buy [from SMEs]," he said. "We are still in years rather than months."

He said that his experience as an independent business owner had taught him that many small businesses are reluctant to even try to win work from government, owing to the red tape and procedural impediments.

"My experience of selling to government is that it is far too bureaucratic to ever bother," he said. "That in a way is proof that quality companies don't even try to compete for government business, which is bad for government because it is not taking advantage of what the market can offer."