Responding to the Government’s latest procurement statistics, National Chair of the Federation of Small Businesses (FSB), Martin McTague, said: “The rise in overall procurement spend doesn’t reveal the whole narrative. While the overall spend with small businesses has grown, they’re actually getting a smaller slice of the pie.
“The Government may be heralding these figures as a success, but its own target – to ensure that 33 per cent of its procurement spend goes to SMEs – is nowhere in sight. In fact, it has fallen woefully short of that figure.
“The Government should own up and confront these blatant shortcomings. Failure to contract with a wide range of businesses is bad for the taxpayer, bad for public services and bad for the economy. Small firms are valued in supply chains for their innovation, versatility, and value for money.
“We urge the Government to rediscover the ambition of Ministers and every Government since 2015 and strain every sinew to hit a 33 per cent target for SME procurement. There’s no use having a target without a delivery plan. We need it to be backed by a proper, coherent plan, or else it’s just window dressing.
"This must include proper feedback to small businesses on why their bids are unsuccessful, breaking up large contracts so that small businesses have a chance in bidding, and actually advertising public tendering opportunities properly.”
