McEvoy, Emma
(2020)
Small and Medium-Sized Enterprise (SME) Participation in Public Procurement.
PhD thesis, National University of Ireland Maynooth.
Abstract
Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) dominate the Single Market
contributing to local employment generation and innovative supplies and
services development. Yet, SMEs are continuously disproportionately
underrepresented in public markets. On average EU member states spend
approximately 14% of their gross domestic product (GDP) concluding
public supplies, services and works contracts. EU rules aim to promote
cross-border trade in the Single Market by removing the barriers faced by
suppliers when tendering for public contracts. This research questions
whether the inclusion of social criteria and innovative procedures
facilitates SME participation in public contracts. The research questions
what impact “the division of large contracts into small ‘lots’; the use of
community benefit clauses; the use of subcontractor considerations; and
the use of pre-commercial procurement (PCP) procedures” has on SME
participation. A cross-border comparative case-study approach is adopted
to examine the inclusion of social criteria and innovative procedures in
four case studies. The case studies scrutinise the inclusion of social criteria
in; a €1.7 billion works contract for the construction of a New Children’s
Hospital in Ireland, a £27 million catering, cleaning and ancillary services
contract conducted by Northern Ireland’s Central Procurement
Directorate, and two PCP competitions conducted by Smart Dublin and
Smart Belfast. The findings show how; the use of community benefit
clauses and the use of lots facilitated a social enterprise in winning a
proportion of a £27 million services and supplies contract; the use of
subcontractor considerations resulted in the awarding of €500,000 of
subcontracts to SMEs on a €1.7 billion contract within six months of
contract commencement, and the use of PCP facilitated the participation
of nine SMEs in public contracts. The thesis argues that public procurers
should not to treat SMEs as a homogenised group and should design
appropriate and proportionate policies for different forms of businesses,
including social enterprises and innovative start-ups.
| Item Type: |
Thesis
(PhD)
|
| Keywords: |
Small Enterprise; Medium-Sized Enterprise; SME; Participation; Public Procurement; |
| Academic Unit: |
Faculty of Social Sciences > Law |
| Item ID: |
12559 |
| Depositing User: |
IR eTheses
|
| Date Deposited: |
09 Mar 2020 17:13 |
| URI: |
|
| Use Licence: |
This item is available under a Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial Share Alike Licence (CC BY-NC-SA). Details of this licence are available
here |
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