Commons Sense

House of Commons · Ministers' Questions

SMEs: Public Procurement Rules

Thursday 27 October 2022 · 2 questions

Summarised by AI from the official record, so it can contain mistakes.

Read the full transcript on Parliament.uk

At a glance

Answered 1 Partly answered 1 Not answered 0

Key points

  • The Procurement Bill aims to simplify and make procurement processes more flexible and transparent for SMEs.
  • The bill will help SMEs compete and win public contracts more easily.
  • Government spending2020-2190100

Topics (select to filter)

Questions & Answers

Q1 Philip Hollobone Con
Business & Trade
Context

The question arises from the need to improve transparency and reduce complexity in public procurement processes for SMEs.

Question

What steps his Department is taking to help improve the (a) transparency and (b) complexity of public procurement rules for small and medium-sized enterprises?

Answer from Jeremy Quin

The Procurement Bill will enable simpler, more flexible procurement processes and increased transparency of planned procurements. These changes will make it easier for small and medium-sized enterprises to compete for and indeed win public contracts.

Answered
Was this summary accurate? Tell us

How accurate was this summary? (1 = poor, 5 = spot on)

Q2 Philip Hollobone Con
Business & Trade
Context

Hollobone discusses how it is administratively easier for the Government to award contracts to bigger companies, which impacts SMEs negatively. He highlights the need for direct government procurement contracts from SMEs.

Question

When it comes to public procurement, I know that it is administratively easier for the Government to award contracts to bigger companies, as that involves a smaller number of contracts with a smaller number of companies. What happens is that SMEs then become subcontractors of those big national organisations but with reduced margins. It would really help local economies if SMEs could bid directly for Government procurement contracts, because that would raise margins at the local level and be a real boost to the local economy.

Answer from Jeremy Quin

The most recent stats, for 2020-21, showed that the Government were spending £9 billion indirectly with SMEs and £10 billion directly with SMEs. The Procurement Bill will make the pipeline easier and more transparent—there will be one core set of data already in the system—which will enable SMEs to focus on the bid itself. It will also ensure more uniformity across Government regulations and process.

Partly answered

Not addressed: specific details on how the Procurement Bill facilitates direct bidding by SMEs for government procurement contracts

How: Noting Stats But Avoiding Specifics

Was this summary accurate? Tell us

How accurate was this summary? (1 = poor, 5 = spot on)