This item was published during the term of a previous administration that ended in April 2007
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Removing barriers to business
23/07/2006
A range of measures which will help small and medium enterprises gain access to more business from the public sector were announced today.
The Executive has worked in partnership with SMEs to remove barriers to business. Publication of a report by leading businessman John McClelland looking a public sector procurement has reinforced the findings of the SME work and a range of further measures will be implemented which will assist business:
- The requirement for "adequate publicity" has been put on a statutory footing - which should ensure that lower-value contracts are more widely advertised
- An internet portal will be created to give SMEs simpler links to contracting authorities' sites
- A model questionnaire for use across the whole public sector has been developed which will tackle bureaucracy in the tender process
- A Supplier Charter will be put in place - which will include the right to a debriefing, the requirement for adequate publicity and the use of the model questionnaire
Minister for Finance and Public Service Reform Tom McCabe said:
"The Executive has been working closely with SMEs and the business community to remove barriers to doing business with the public sector. We also recently published a detailed report by leading businessman John McClelland which looked at public sector procurement - these measures flow directly from that work.
"We are committed to tackling unnecessary bureaucracy and ensuring we invest public money as effectively and efficiently as possible. We also want to ensure we create an environment where all Small and Medium Enterprises - and businesses of all sizes - can flourish.
"These measures will deliver both those objectives - I genuinely believe they are a win-win scenario for businesses and taxpayers."
The SME Forum included representatives from Scottish Chambers of Commerce, CBI Scotland, the Institute of Directors and the Federation of Small Businesses, along with local authority, health, education and Scottish Enterprise colleagues. The main barriers it identified to business were agreed as:
- accessing information on contract opportunities;
- excess bureaucracy, in particular regarding pre qualification processes;
- lack of transparency in processes; and
- failure to provide full debriefing for unsuccessful bidders
Actions to address these barriers were:
- A requirement for adequate publicity has been integrated in the Public Contracts (Scotland) Regulations 2006 and the Utilities Contracts (Scotland) Regulations. The principle of "adequate publicity" should ensure that procurement opportunities below OJEU threshold values are more widely advertised than was previously the case; and
- To facilitate the requirement for adequate publicity, the Scottish Procurement Directorate is preparing the business case for an advertising portal. In the interim, a central page on the Scottish Executive website will be created to provide links to contracting authorities' sites.
To tackle bureaucracy in the tender process, a model questionnaire for use across the Scottish public sector has been developed. Use of the questionnaire will increase standardisation of procurement processes.
Transparency in the procurement process will be improved by widespread adoption of a behavioural code. A Supplier Charter incorporating the right to debriefing, the requirement for adequate publicity and use of the model questionnaire has been developed in consultation with Forum participants and all local authorities. It is anticipated that this Charter will continue to evolve to take cognisance of ongoing developments in process, best practice, and standardisation.
A wide variety of groups will be involved in roll-out of the Charter to the public sector including the Heads of Procurement network, COSLA, Proc-SNI. Business Gateway, FSB, Scottish Chambers and IOD will roll-out the Charter to business.
The degree of implementation will be measured by feedback from businesses and their representative organisations. The reference in the Charter to routing of complaints is intended as an interim measure pending implementation of the Single Point of Enquiry proposed in the Review of Public Procurement.