Government’s plan to grant 25% of contracts to SMEs is well on track

The UK government seems to be well on track to achieve its set target of granting 25% of central government business to small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) by 2015, an official report on the matter has recently revealed.

In order to help small and medium enterprises gain easier access to contracts, all government departments have developed plans for making their contributions to the 25% aspiration, and as part of this acceleration, every department now has an appointed SME minister to ensure SME-friendly procurement practices are commonplace.

By supporting SMEs and helping them compete for public sector business, the government plans to help boost economic growth, and the latest figures seem to indicate that it’s well on the road to achieving its set targets, as direct SME spend increased from £3 billion in 2009 to 2010 to £4.5 billion (10.5%) in 2012 to 2013.

But that’s not all. In fact, major government suppliers pointed out that, beside the amounts obtained via the government’s direct spending, SMEs have in fact benefited from a further £4 billion (9.4%) in indirect spend through the supply chain for 2012 to 2013.

MOD accounts for a significant proportion of central government spend, since, without MOD, the data would indicate a total direct spend with SMEs set at 15% and total indirect spend would be 8.9%.

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