GOVERNMENT ACTION NEEDED ON EU TENDERING OPPORTUNITIES

20th April, 2017

• Government must assist SMEs in EU tenders

• Nominate one agency to drive international tender openings

Last month, ISME, the Irish Small and Medium Enterprises Association identified that billions of euro in tendering opportunities would open in the years ahead for Irish business as a result of Brexit. This matter was reported in the Financial Times of London yesterday (19^th April). As a consequence of Brexit, British companies are being frozen out of the EU tendering process because they will not be EU members by the time these contractual opportunities mature.

Commenting on the FT report ISME CEO, Neil McDonnell said “There is an onus on Government to act on these opportunities right now for the sake of the SME sector in Ireland”

ISME calls on the Government to act now. We need them to take four actions:

• Provide assistance to SMEs in learning how to win international tenders.
• Task one government agency with an outreach programme to economic development bodies across the EU, promoting business with Irish companies.
• Nominate one development agency to facilitate and drive international tender consortium formation.
• Charge our diplomatic corps and our public servants with placing this at the top of Ireland’s list of priorities to mitigate the impact of Brexit.

He added,

 “We cannot just sit back and assume these opportunities will fall into our laps. There are silver linings to Brexit, this is one of them. We cannot wait. Action by the government is required now”.

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