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A recent report from the country’s authorities announces that SMB suppliers take a great share of public contracts in Scotland. 6 out of 10 contracts was given SMB suppliers last year, and half of Scottish authorities money used for acquisitions was given SMB.
Since 2008, Public Contracts Scotland (PCS) has been the official national portal for public sector contract opportunities in Scotland. In this portal, announcements below EU/EEA threshold value are published with related contract awards. It is required for all Scottish public authorities to announce all tenders above EU/EEA threshold values in PCS.
A 2016 survey from PCS reveals that about 15,000 announcements were found in PCS. This is a 3,5 % increase since the previous year. Around 1000 of these was announced in TED as well. About 11 500 where only tender offers.
21 600 suppliers with a contract
The announcement activity resulted in close to 21 600 suppliers receiving public contracts. 74 % of these were Scottish. The estimation includes suppliers registered in PCS with business addresses in the country. 60 % were SMB from Scotland with less than 250 employees.
Sub-suppliers also received tender contracts through PCS in 2016, but still not as many – 52 tender contracts. 44 % of these had Scottish business addresses and 33 % of these were SMEs with 350 or fewer employees.
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SMB seized half
During the period 2015-2016, Scottish authorities spent close to 12 billion euros on public procurement. 49 % went to contracts with SMB suppliers. In the report, the amount is broken down into more detailed company size:
- 8 % to micro-enterprises (1-9 employees)
- 13 % to small businesses (10-59 employees)
- 28 % to SMB (50-249 employees)
The figures needs to be considered with matters as the numbers provided only include suppliers where numbers of employees is known.
This article first appeared at Anbud365, Norway’s leading online newspaper for public procurement. Published by Lennart Hovland on August 15, 2017. You can read the full article in Norwegian here.
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