Senator the Hon Mathias Cormann

Small and medium-sized businesses continue to be well-represented in Government procurement, according to new figures.

The latest statistics published by AusTender on contracts reported in 2013-14 show that small and medium enterprises (SMEs: businesses with fewer than 200 employees and operating independently of any parent organisation for taxation arrangements) won:

• over half of the contracts by number (36,487 of the 66,047 awarded, or 55.2%) and
• over a third of the contracts by value ($16.8 billion out of $48.9 billion, or 34.4%).

Small businesses (SMEs with fewer than 20 employees) also fared well, winning:

• almost one in three of total contracts awarded (around 20,000 contracts) and
• over 11.6% of the total value of contracts ($5.7 billion worth).

Of the over 10,000 businesses who contracted with the Government last financial year, 86.3% were SMEs and 61.5% were small businesses.

These results confirm the substantial and growing contribution of small and medium-sized businesses to the Australian economy and that they consistently represent value for money for taxpayers.

Further details on the 2013-14 Government procurement statistics can be found at www.finance.gov.au/procurement/statistics-on-commonwealth-purchasing-contracts/.

The Government remains committed to fair and equal access to Government business opportunities. For small business in particular, the Government will continue to focus on further reducing complexity and costs associated with tendering.

Businesses can register their area of business interest on AusTender at www.tenders.gov.au to receive automatic notification of the latest business opportunities as they are published.