First let me state that I do not belong to any Political Party so my comments are in no way biased.
I was delighted to hear the news last week that the Government are making it easier for SME’s to participate in the tendering process – particularly for Public Sector tenders.
But as I dug into this statement it became apparent that it is a total PR exercise with no substance whatever.
The main claim appears to be that SME’s will be paid promptly for any work they do. Great news! But this is part of the Procurement Act that was actually passed by the previous Government and which came in to force early last year. So nothing new there at all.
However, the opposite is actually the case.
For many years the Cabinet Office SME Procurement Panel (of which I was a member) raised issues affecting SME’s and proposed solutions – including legislation – to overcome these issues.
I may be slightly biased (as a member of that panel) but we debated the Procurement Bill (which became the Act) at length and even worked down to the level of modifying part of the text of the Act. I think that panel was very successful and we reported direct to Government at Ministerial Level.
But within a few months of coming in to power the panel was shut down by the Government with no replacement.
And now, a year after the Procurement Act came in to being, I am hearing that a lot of Local Authorities – including Labour controlled Councils – are trying to get an exemption from the payment conditions laid down by the Act – claiming they have no money so can’t meet the payment terms. Why should SME’s be expected to fund them through late payment?
Then – as I have previously mentioned – there is the National Scandal of MOD procurement. The cartels that are operated by the biggest suppliers effectively prevent SME’s directly supplying the MOD. I do not refer to items of security but as I put it “toilet rolls and baked beans”. These have to pass through the hands of the cartels who apply obscene mark ups.
I had made progress with the previous Government who promised to commission an independent study in to the issue. But the current Government refused to follow up on this and have also refused to even discuss the matter with me. Perhaps our country doesn’t need the money – after all the savings are only estimated to be around £8 billion a year!
