A Practical Guide to Procurement for SMEs 

Procurement in Spain, i.e.: what the State, Autonomous Communities, Town Councils, Regional or Provincial Councils, Public Companies, Autonomous Organizations, etc., buy from private companies to allow the former to operate normally, comes to approximately 130,000 million Euro each year, which accounts for 13% of the Spanish GDP (Gross Domestic Product).

For this reason it is more important than ever that SMEs begin to participate the in huge volume of transactions carried out not only because of the business opportunities these offer but also because these will allow them to increase their level of competitiveness and business innovation at the service of the whole society, improving the costs and quality for the Administration, which, thanks to the savings this will suppose, will undoubtedly lead to a greater possibility that resources will be assigned to procurement, enhancing business viability and the possibility of hiring a larger number of staff.

Here at the General Directorate we are very aware of how complex the procurement processes are and how this may make small companies reluctant to participate in what might well be an important field of business development.

This is why we decided to prepare this publication in order to offer SMEs a way to access this essential market related to public procurement.

For this reason we decided to avoid using administrative jargon whenever possible, opting for more colloquial expressions that can be easily understood by everyone and thus provide a step-by-step explanation of the ins and outs of Procurement as a way of ensuring that everyone can easily access the extensive world of procurement facing no more difficulties than that associated with being a commercial supplier.

What’s more, the entire World of European Public Procurement is also open to the Spanish business community as, when well understood, the Spanish system is practically identical, standardized where necessary to ensure it is possible to participate in all the countries within the European Union, where the total amount of procurement is some 20 times greater than in Spain.

The Guide endeavours to provide an answer to a simple question: what do I have to do to sell to the public sector? It provides an explanation of each step to be taken when endeavouring to do just that and gives practical examples to make these concepts easier to understand.

Practical Guide to Public Procurement for SMEs [ES]

We hope you find this useful.

• Guía de acceso de las Pyme a la Contratación Pública [ES]