A proposed British law might make it easier for small businesses to access the sizable government procurement pool.
The Procurement Bill will make it easier for small-to-medium-sized businesses (SMBs) to get more of the $366 billion in annual government expenditure on goods and services.
In a government news statement on Monday, Cabinet Office Minister Jeremy Quin said, “We are simplifying, making public sector procurement more transparent, and making it easier to navigate.” “This Bill will take use of the chance presented by Brexit to rip up outdated laws, improve opportunities for smaller firms, and deliver more value for the public money,” the bill’s author said.
The law would also give the government the authority to reject contractors who have delivered subpar work on government projects and those who are “involved in modern slavery, further cracking down on this despicable activity.”
According to a report from the British newspaper The Guardian on Monday, the opposition Labor Party wants the government to fix some of the bill’s problems. The law was even referred to as a “charter for cronies” by one party member.
The bill is being approved while UK SMBs struggle with serious issues. As was revealed late this month, the Financial Times found that in the third quarter of 2022, only around half of applications for small business loans in the U.K. were accepted.
