Medium and small enterprises soon to get more public sector contracts

THE finance ministry says medium and small enterprises (MSEs) should soon be able to access a larger share of public sector-generated contracts under a review of Government's procurement procedures.

The ministry, in a release, said Government will be putting in place an enabling policy, with technical and funding assistance from the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) to assist with the process.

The assistance has been made available to the Ministry of Finance and the Public Service Procurement Unit, through its membership in the Inter-American Government Procurement Network.

"This project comes against the background of the MSEs ongoing lobby, and will give support to the joint initiative of the ministries of Finance and Industry, Investment & Commerce, under which Cabinet in 2009, approved the allocation of 15 per cent of all government procurement for medium and small enterprises," the ministry's release said.

Led by IDB consultant David McDermont, the project team collaborated with a number of local stakeholder groups, including the Small Businesses Association of Jamaica; the MSME Alliance; the Incorporated MasterBuilders' Association; Access Financial Services; Development Options; and the Private Sector Organisation of Jamaica.

In addition, the team examined the findings of critical research undertaken on the Jamaican MSE environment, as well as looked at regional and international best practices in the effective management of government procurement issues.

As a first step, the project team has been conducting a survey of medium and small business operators who have actually bid for government contracts, with the aim of soliciting their first-hand responses to inform the changes which need to be made to the system.

"Now in its second week, the survey responses continue to underscore the challenges being experienced by MSEs in their effort to claim a share of the public sector procurement market," said the finance ministry.