The announcement follows findings from a report released by the Better Regulation Task Force and the Small Business Council, in May this year. The report, ‘Government: Supporter and Customer?’, found that small businesses face a mountain of paperwork and other bureaucratic obstacles when trying to compete for public sector business.

The Government has said it will:

– Develop one web portal advertising all lower value central government non-military contracts and urge local authorities to set up their own ‘Selling to the Council’ websites

– Provide support for small businesses to help them negotiate the public sector tender process

– Develop one common pre-qualification information document for lower value contracts, so that small businesses no longer have to fight their way through a mountain of paperwork every time they apply to be considered for a public sector contract.

Teresa Graham, deputy chair of the Task Force and a member of the Small Business Council, believes that small- and medium-sized companies can now look forward to a level playing field when public contracts are up for tender.

The Task Force and the Small Business Council has published a list of eleven recommendations to fulfil and trials of these are currently being run in Haringey and the West Midlands.

See also: How to apply for public sector tendering as a small business