GOOD NEWS FOR SMALL BUSINESSES
June 12, 2007 3:23 PM
Nick Harvey says:
'The Ministry of Defence (MoD) has launched a new initiative to help small and medium companies to win more defence contracts, which comes to fruition on 30 June. It is anticipated that this could open up an additional 7,000 contracts a year to small businesses.
'This is being achieved by lowering the advertising threshold for MoD 'warlike' and 'non-warlike' contracts down to £40,000. In addition MoD project teams are being encouraged to consider advertising requirements with values as low as £20,000.
'This is great news as the aim is to allow more small and medium enterprises to tender for a broader range of defence work. In recent years over 50% of MoD contracts, worth over half a billion pounds, have gone to smaller firms.
'This is a prime opportunity for companies in North Devon already involved in defence work and for those seeking to become involved.'
Background:
From 30 April the threshold for 'warlike' requirements was lowered from £500,000 to £93,000; then on 30 June 2007 will be lowered again to £40,000. The threshold for 'non-warlike' requirements will also be reduced on 30 June from £93,000 to £40,000. This change is in line with one of the key themes of the Defence Industrial Strategy and reaffirms MoD's commitment to working with SMEs. The MoD produce a Defence Contracts Bulletin. See: http://www.contracts.mod.uk/ and http://www.mod.uk/DefenceInternet/DefenceFor/Business/ for those interested in tendering for work.
Defence Equipment and Support (DE&S) equips and supports the UK's armed forces for current and future operations. DE&S was officially formed on 1 April 2007 with the merger of the Defence Procurement Agency (DPA) and the Defence Logistics Organisation (DLO). It is based in Bristol and employs approximately 29,000 staff at bases across the UK.
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