Abstract: “Construction industry fragmentation into nearly a million Small to Medium Sized Enterprises (SME) in the UK led to calls for the European procurement process to be more inclusive. The innovation and skills of these organisations was not being correctly utilized in Government contracts. The introduction of the new procurement directives Europe wide sought to solve this problem. However, the perspective of SME’s on issues such as self-declaration provisions, breaking contracts into lots, limits to the financial capacity required, and the effect on procurement if more SMEs tendered had not been fully researched. This paper’s findings show an increase in SME involvement as predicted, and that the other elements of the new regulations are appreciated but that organisations have concerns over the capacity of government departments to administer contracts in lots.”

Keywords: EU Directives,Procurement, Construction