Local AM Gwenda Thomas has welcomed the roll out of a new system that will make it easier for smaller local businesses to bid for government contracts in Wales.
The Supplier Qualification Information Database, or SQuID for short, will help small suppliers to win more of the £4.3 billion of public procurement contracts. Before a company can bid for a public sector tender it must go through a qualification process. The new database makes this stage cheaper and less time consuming, thereby removing barriers to smaller firms.
Mrs Thomas said: “Government procurement has a huge impact on our nation’s economy. The new procurement database will help unlock the potential of this spending to grow Welsh enterprises and create new jobs. I very much hope we will see firms in Neath benefiting from the opportunities it offers.”
The system has been extensively tested across the Welsh public sector. In the last 10 months it has helped business based in Wales win over two thirds of government construction awards. The Welsh Government, NHS Wales, all 22 local authorities and many universities in Wales have committed to using it.
