Small businesses will find it easier to vie for local government tenders with a new set of online guides published by the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI).
The guides coincide with government targets for making all local-level contracts available online, in an effort to streamline the tendering process and simplify the process for small businesses.
Small businesses have complained that contracts were almost impossible to find out about and the process of applying even more complicated.
But according to the DTI, the new system of 'e-procurement' allows companies to increase costs and efficiency by interacting with suppliers to buy products and services online.
The free publications are available at
www.dti.gov.uk/bestpractice. They include information on a range of topics from business processes to an introduction to e-business.
In related news, a new survey by NTA Monitor shows that just 3% of SMEs have set up an e-commerce service and so are missing out on a consumer market worth an estimated £1 billion.
Consumers are slowly becoming more confident about online payment systems, a trend demonstrated in the finding that 70% of businesses made a profit on their websites last year.
"Whilst ecommerce at first glance might appear risky, this is simply not the case," said NTA's Roy Hills. "There is much potential for profitability and SMEs should follow in the footsteps of larger corporates into online ventures.”
