Scottish small firms win more public sector deals

SCOTTISH small businesses are winning more public contracts than ever before through Public Contracts Scotland (PCS), the national advertising portal.

The news came as Deputy First Minister Nicola Sturgeon also revealed that PCS figures show 80 per cent of 13,308 suppliers awarded contracts through the portal in 2012 were based north of the Border.

Scotland’s public bodies, which spend more than £9 billion each year on procurement, awarded more than two-thirds of contracts to Scottish-based small or medium sized businesses – a rise of 12 per cent since 2010.

Sturgeon, unveiling the PCS report at the Scottish Crime Campus at Gartcosh, said that “public sector contracts are of great significance to Scottish businesses and play an important role in building a wealthier and more successful nation”.