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New initiative to help SMEs get public sector work

18 April 2023

A programme aimed at UK small businesses promises to improve their chances of winning government contracts by helping them work with bigger suppliers.

A new programme which aims to open up valuable public sector contracts to SMEs has been launched by Deloitte Digital and Enterprise Nation. It comes as the Procurement Bill goes through Parliament promising to give innovative small firms "an even bigger slice of the procurement pie" by mandating larger firms to work with SME quotas on bids.

Deloitte's SME Supplier Eco-system Programme is intended to help talented digital firms to access opportunities to grow their business via public sector contracts. It will enable small firms to become supplier-ready and overcome the hurdles smaller businesses face in accessing large government procurement bids - such as providing evidence of previous contract work or three years of audited accounts.

Getting SMEs "supplier-ready"

Deloitte plans to hold events to help develop a new culture of collaboration and a sustainable pipeline of innovative "supplier-ready" digital SMEs. Businesses signing up to the SME Supplier Eco-system will receive monthly newsletters with notifications on new contract opportunities and join a community of peers looking to scale.

"Accessing public sector work in this way can act like an accelerator for SMEs. Government contracts are solid, they pay within 30 days and small firms get to work with incredible machines like Deloitte. It's a very powerful way to evolve the UK's digital business community and apply the work from some of the UK's most agile and innovative businesses to solve public sector problems. This benefits not just SMEs themselves but the wider community, by saving taxpayers' money along the way." Emma Jones, founder of Enterprise Nation.

The next Meet the Buyer event will be hosted on April 26 with speakers covering current contracts and a founder story of a company that has successfully sold to government via a Deloitte supplier opportunity. The event is online and free to attend.

Andrew McKibbin, partner at Deloitte Digital, said: "We are committed to building a thriving SME community that will bring unrivalled access to exciting opportunities across government, working on complex, large scale programmes that will make a difference to society … We have a rich heritage of working closely with SMEs and I am looking forward to turbocharging that through a diverse and collaborative SME community that will help businesses grow."

Written by Rachel Miller.

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