SME Participation in Government Procurement Markets

Abstract

This chapter considers policy measures to increase the participation of SMEs in government procurement and their potential economic and social policy benefits. It considers the scale and importance of government procurement, and barriers to SME access to these markets. While some SME support policies are often considered to run counter to fundamental goals of government procurement (notably preference policies that may reduce competition and transparency), the chapter explains that many SME policies in fact support efficient and effective government procurement. It explores the synergies between such SME policies and measures designed to ensure cross-border access to government procurement markets. It considers relevant provisions in the WTO Agreement on Government Procurement and the UNCITRAL Model Law on Public Procurement, and concludes that their recent revisions to promote transparency and effectiveness in the pursuit of these policies are welcome, but that further work to ensure their effective application in practice is needed.