Small contractors to benefit from 20 percent of public procurement from January

Oct 20, 2018 News

Government has announced plans for small contractors to get a piece of the billion-dollar state spending pie.
Yesterday, Minister of State, Joseph Harmon, disclosed that the Cabinet has approved the project’s implementation from January 2018.
In essence, mechanisms are being put into place to allow small contractors to receive up to 20 percent of the value of contracts.
The government’s Small Business Procurement Programme will ensure that small businesses have their fair access to government procurement activities through a transparent and efficient process.
According to Section 11:1 of the Small Business Act of 2004, at least 20 per cent of procurement of goods and services required annually by the government has to be obtained from small businesses.
It was also pointed out that the Small Business Council which oversees the Small Business Bureau (SBB) shall facilitate this by preparing a Small Business Procurement Programme.
During his post-Cabinet press briefing, Harmon explained: “Cabinet has approved the programme’s implementation, and it was agreed that there would be a basic “set aside” measure for all government (goods, services and works) up to $30M.”
Minister Harmon noted that there will also be a set aside for sub-contracting, measures for all government procurement between $30M and $200M and that all ministries, agencies and regional authorities will participate in the implementation of the programme.
Specifically, the State Minister said, “the ministries, agencies and regional authorities will be required to provide annual projections of the value of small business procurement by sectors, based on their annual procurement plans to the SBB. They will also be required to implement the “set aside measures approved and provide a quarterly report on procurement payments to the SBB”.
Minister Harmon pointed out that the programme will also enhance the economic impact of public spending.
Over the years, there have been severe criticisms of small contractors being sidelined by the larger ones in a crooked procurement system.
The administration announced that it is now working on a system to blacklist errant contractors.
Government has been making a number of changes, but it is unclear how much these have had with regards to transparency and accountability.

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Small contractors to benefit from 20 percent of public procurement from January

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