Foreword by Sir Jonathan Thompson, HMRC Chief Executive and Permanent Secretary
Published 9 July 2019
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This publication is available at https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/hmrcs-small-and-medium-enterprise-action-plan-for-2019/foreword-by-sir-jonathan-thompson-hmrc-chief-executive-and-permanent-secretary
Welcome to HMRC’s small and medium enterprises (SMEs) action plan for 2019.
This plan highlights the important measures HMRC is taking to ensure SMEs can easily find and access new opportunities to supply to government.
Image showing Sir Jonathan Thompson, HMRC Chief Executive and Permanent Secretary.
It also highlights how we plan to reduce barriers to entry for SMEs, who provide a valuable contribution to our national economy.
Since 2015, each government department has been tasked with formulating action plans to outline strategic initiatives that ensure the UK government achieves its target of 33% of procurement spend with SMEs by 2022.
We support and acknowledge the value that SMEs can provide in the government’s plan for generating UK growth and supporting sustainable economic recovery.
Our Commercial Directorate has worked hard to evaluate how we can reduce barriers to entry, find novel ways to engage with SMEs, simplify the procurement process, and improve data collection and progress monitoring. Our action plan outlines how we will enact specific, measureable and realistic steps to raise the proportion of our £1.5 billion plus annual procurement spend on SMEs.
Our action plan is especially important since our total net procurement spend has been steadily increasing by an average of £60 million every year over the past several years.
This is relevant to IT, Property & Facilities Management (P&FM), and Corporate Services, which are our three main categories of spend. These categories face a period of rapid change and development.
We are going through an ambitious programme of transformation, changing our services to improve our customers’ experiences, develop new online services and increase efficiency, all of which present us with new opportunities for SME involvement and allow for more inclusivity in the procurement process where appropriate.
There are also more subtle, but equally important, ways to encourage SMEs to supply to HMRC. From more proactive market engagement, to streamlined procurement documentation, to prompt payment on delivery of work, our Commercial Directorate is embracing an all-encompassing approach to this action plan.
This ensures existing and prospective SME suppliers feel empowered throughout every stage of the procurement process.
Since the 33% target was announced in 2015, we have considered precise methods to include SMEs, as this promotes a competitive marketplace. These SMEs also often have niche areas of expertise and fresh methods that SMEs can offer in carrying out work for HMRC.
I am proud of the vital efforts our Commercial Directorate is making to ensure more procurements are available to SMEs.
Sir Jonathan Thompson, HMRC Chief Executive and Permanent Secretary
Go to SME Action Plan 2018 to 2019.