Independent trainers and small training companies are being urged to gain free access to thousands of public sector contract opportunities.

SMEs have until the end of this month to register for a three-month trial with www.supply2.gov.uk – a government service launched two years ago to give small businesses more access to public sector contracts of £100,000 or less.

More than 87,500 contracts across the UK and Northern Ireland have been advertised on www.supply2.gov.uk over the last two years. SMEs that register for the three-month trial will receive free access to contracts from a range of public service providers including local government, health, education, housing authorities, emergency services and the Olympic Delivery Authority.

Business minister Shriti Vadera said: “Many smaller businesses are more innovative, have lower costs and present better value for taxpayers than larger firms. We need to ensure they have better access to government procurement to give them the opportunity to grow.”

The free trial is part of the Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform’s enterprise strategy, released in March alongside the budget, which outlines new measures to increase the amount of government business that is won by small firms. It also included:
* an independent review – currently underway – to identify where the government can improve accessibility for SMEs to public sector contracts
* a change to the small print for government procurement that will allow companies, particularly small firms, to use invoice financing when competing for public contracts.

Posted by: Mike Morrison
Added Saturday, 27 September, 2008, 12:34

This in theory is a great service, however there are very few 'small' contracts on offer and those that are expect providers to go through a 'full' tender process at a local purchasing level are sort of missing the point. I have been monitoring this service for a while now and unless the systems in these organisations change they will not get the value they expect from a provider with reduced overheads, and many of us just won't bother to respond. A great idea, though not thought through at all levels in the supply chain.

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