Lucas Fettes & Partners director Mark Taylor is joining an advisory panel of 24 business figures formed by the Cabinet Office that aims to help the government in increasing spending with small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs).
The advisory panel, which met for the first time on November 15, will work with the government to ensure that by 2020, £1 of every £3 invested by Whitehall in goods and services goes to SMEs.
Taylor said increasing government spending with SMEs to 33% will lead to “exponential growth opportunities.”
“If the government meets it target, it would mean almost £3 billion of new business up for grabs by UK SMEs each year, either directly or through the supply chain,” he said.
Taylor said he is “well-placed” to discuss the challenges facing SMEs that try to enter the “highly regulated” and “conservative” public sector market.
“As a government supplier, I will use my experience to work with government to simplify the procurement process,” Taylor said.
He lamented that major international brokers dominate the public sector market while smaller firms struggle with a number of barriers to tendering for central government work.
“Despite smaller–medium sized brokers being entirely capable of delivering many of the required services and skillsets, our industry is dominated by an oligopoly that is self-perpetuating,” he said.
“I hope we can contribute to changing that status quo,” Taylor added.
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