No doubt Governments are anxious to work SMEs

Told me: you lose your time, it is impossible for an SME to win a public contract without anticipation of balance, or references. "Valérie Vital was correct to insist:"I won this contract and economic mission of the General Council of the Ain has become one of my first clients,"says the designer to Add Value, 9 employees call centre, which today achieves 30 of its turnover on public markets. No doubt, Governments are anxious to work SMEs.

And they assume a significant part of the public order, as shown in an investigation of the economic observatory for public purchase: State and local authorities alike, SMEs (companies with fewer than 250 employees) have won, in 2008, 60 of the approximately 110,000 markets public identified and 30 of the public orders EUR 66.9 billion. They like to sign contracts with these clients, certainly more procedural than the private sector in the commercial relationship, but from the bankruptcy and ultimately always pay...

In addition, the measures promoting access of SMEs to public procurement are multiplied (read below). Of course, the France failed to convince Brussels, attached to the principle of free competition, to introduce a system of quotas for SMEs at European level on the American model. Otherwise, the State could request its major suppliers of private commitments encrypted to their subcontracting SMEs, find Thierry Gaiffe, IXsea President, a manufacturer of underwater navigation equipment. "If it is legitimate to encourage the recruitment of certain categories of employees in this way, why not do the same to stimulate the growth of SMEs working indirectly for public clients"

OSEO in the centre of the device

Other recommendations of the report 2007 Stoléru, aimed at promoting SMEs in the public order, could however be applied. Commissioned by the public authorities to help develop procurement, OSEO is now at the center of the State aid to SMEs (read below) device. More recently, the crisis sparked a new wave of initiatives: in 2009, the State granted, as non-conforming, an advance of 20 for firms of public procurement. "This measure particularly beneficial for SMEs that often suffer from cash flow problems unfortunately not was renewed in 2010", said Frédéric Grivot, Vice-President of the CGPME. SMEs is consolation in 2010 with another provision which will provide additional liquidity: next July 1, the payment terms of the procurement of State, territorial and local public institutions (except health) will return to 30 days. The time where public purchasers settled their suppliers with more slow than their counterparts in the private sector is therefore virtually gone.

Play on proximity

However, Jean-Paul Lourdelle, President of SLLL, making 60 of its turnover on construction sites to Government, expects little benefit. Indeed, he rarely works with Government on-line and does that very little as a subcontractor of large private groups: "and in 30 of cases, continues to set me to 90 or even 120 days...". "Finally, the consolidation of procurement at local or interdepartmental level cause of concern to SMEs: the development of communities and the merger of Governments to rationalize public expenditure would favour large suppliers. "To stop this trend, SMEs must play on the proximity and reactivity and ensure that public purchasers do not exclusively determine the pricing." Do not oppose the interests of the taxpayer that SMEs... ", argues Frédéric CGPME Grivot.

Fortunately, the advent of purchases is also offset by the encouragement of the allotment provided by the public procurement Code. To strengthen competition between businesses of all sizes, markets must be passed in lots separated when they can be divided into coherent sets. In the light of these challenges and contradictory trends, understand why the share of SMEs in public order is maintained without really advance...