The SMEs Accessibility to Public Procurement in Romania. The Grounds for Bids Rejection

Abstract

The paper proposes an approach of the small and medium-sized enterprises activity process in the field of public procurement, given the fact that these companies are the basis for the development of the European economy. The involvement of Romanian SMEs in public procurement represents more than 60% of the total concluded contracts during the period 2018-2020. The originality and novelty of the research derives from the analysis carried out on the SMEs attendance to public procurement in Romania and from highlighting the main causes for bids rejection. Public procurement can be an incentive tool for the development of innovative products/technologies and to support SMEs. The development of public sector contracts is one of the growing opportunities for these companies. Research has shown that the chance of SMEs being awarded public contracts decreases by around 15% due to lack of skills required by the tendering procedure or lack of staff training.

Keywords

• smes
• public procurement
• romania
• covid-19