The reform of public procurement across the public service is on-going and will continue to provide opportunities to the SME sector to win business. In line with the Programme for Government, the OGP works with industry to promote the engagement of SMEs in public procurement and to ensure that winning government business is done in a fair, transparent and accessible way and to ensure that government procurement policies are business-friendly. This is done by facilitating quarterly meetings of an SME Advisory Group, which are chaired by the Minister of State Ossian Smyth TD with responsibility for Public Procurement and eGovernment.
It is a forum where SME representative bodies can voice concerns on issues affecting SME participation in public procurement and their voice can be heard by Government.
The Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment (DETE), Enterprise Ireland (EI), InterTrade Ireland (ITI), the Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (CCPC), as well as representatives from the Irish Business and Employers’ Confederation (IBEC), the Small Firms Association (SFA), the Construction Industry Federation (CIF), Chambers Ireland and the Irish Small and Medium Enterprises Association (ISME).
The OGP will continue to proactively engage with business and strive to enhance the significant measures already in place to support SME access to public procurement opportunities.
