Public Procurement And Cross-border Tendering

ended

SMEs are under-represented in winning cross-border public sector contracts in the EU. They lack practical ‘know-how’, market information and international connections, to successfully exploit these opportunities. PPACT (Public Procurement And Cross-Border Tendering), an initiative led by business support organisations (BSOs) with proven track record in public procurement and SME tendering support, will address these barriers via targeted and inter-related training, mentoring, support and cross-border interventions. The project will enhance SME knowledge and confidence in tendering, enabling them to develop practical tendering skills and will promote development of cross-border SME-consortia capable of winning major public sector contracts across the EU. PPACT’s approach is centered on cooperation between BSOs, in particular exchanging country-specific market intelligence, and via the project’s strategic measures to encourage creation of cross-border bidding consortia. The initiative targets the Smart City sector, and its strategic areas such as transport, water, waste management, housing and assisted living. Public sector contract opportunities in this sector are numerous, and combine to be of significant value and are also typically strongly embedded within social, green and innovative procurement initiatives that SMEs are potentially well placed to capitalize upon. PPACT will also raise awareness of legislative measures to support SME access to public procurement as embodied within the new EU Directives and will (via its consortia approach) mitigate against emerging trends in public procurement (e.g. aggregation of demand) that raise challenges to SMEs. PPACT will: Increase BSO capacity and capability resulting in more and better support for SMEs Generate better information on cross-border procurement opportunities, trends and market specificities tailored to SME demands Elevate SME tendering skills Encourage SME participation in cross-border bidding teams.