PRESS RELEASE
YPO, one of the UK’s largest public sector buying organisations, has announced a new partnership to provide support and guidance for SMEs looking to gain access to public sector contracts.
The partnership between Wakefield-based YPO and SME service provider Go4Growth aims to raise awareness and knowledge of public sector procurement contracts to SMEs across the UK. By further establishing an understanding of public sector contracts in SME markets, the partnership aims to increase the number of small to medium sized businesses tendering for government contracts, resulting in an increase in social value and savings for public sector organisations in recovery from the pandemic.
This partnership comes as the government pledge draws nearer for 33% of public sector total spend to be made up of SMEs by 2022.
As part of the partnership, YPO and Go4Growth have conducted research into public sector attitudes towards working with SME suppliers, investigating challenges they face when looking to award contracts. The report will be published in the coming months.
Gavin Rimmington, Head of Public Sector at YPO said:
“We’re incredibly excited to be working with Go4Growth. This partnership will have a positive impact on SMEs, as well as on our public sector customers, as they look to increase social value whilst recovering from the pandemic. We hope this collaboration will place more SMEs onto our frameworks and dynamic purchasing systems over the coming months, putting more UK businesses at the forefront of tenders for government contracts. Go4Growth is a fantastic organisation that understands first-hand the needs of SMEs in this field.”
Gillian Askew, Director at Go4Growth, added:
“YPO has the reach and capabilities to help expand our support to local suppliers across the UK, helping to raise awareness of public sector opportunities and how to access them. Our partnership with YPO comes at an important time when businesses are calling out for support more than ever before. We look forward to the outcomes in 2022 and beyond as our work with YPO develops and we see more small business operating within the public sector.”