More than 13,300 private firms received a share of £9 billion of work offered through the Scottish Government’s online procurement portal last year.
New figures from Public Contracts Scotland yesterday showed 80% of all new business went to firms based in the country, while the remainder went either to firms based elsewhere in the UK or abroad.
The data also shows more than two-thirds of contracts awarded to Scots-based outfits went to small- or medium-sized companies a rise of 12% in awards to the SME sector in the space of two years.
The PCS website allows companies to pitch for large and small contracts across a whole array of public services and capital investment projects.
Among high-profile projects which PCS offers opportunities to work on are the Forth Replacement Crossing, the Commonwealth Games in 2014 and next year’s Ryder Cup at Gleneagles.
Currently there are eight contracts on offer relatingto the showpiece golf match including opportunities to provide luxury toilets, security, fencing and big screens to relay on-course action to the crowds.
Deputy First Minister Nicola Sturgeon visited the Scottish Crime Campus at Gartcosh yesterday, which was built following a PCS contract award to Balfour Beatty.
Of the 300 workers on site for construction works, 87% come from within 25 miles of the development.
Ms Sturgeon said public-sector contracts were hugely significant to the Scottish economy, and progress had been made to simplify the bidding process a major bugbear of many SMEs.
She said: “2012 saw significant areas of PCS being developed to further improve and simplify the ways which businesses deal with the public sector.
“Developments such as PCS Tender and a sub-contracting module have been designed based on direct input from business.
“The introduction of the PCS Tender e-sourcing service aims to address concerns expressed by business that is, the pre-qualification process is too time consuming, bureaucratic and inconsistent.
“PCS Tender provides greater consistency across the public sector, eliminating unnecessary burdens on business, particularly SMEs, by providing a more standardised prequalification process.
“Significantly, PCS Tender will allow suppliers to store and resubmit their responses a major efficiency improvement.
“The subcontracting module further increases the ways in which Scottish suppliers, and in particular SMEs can access major public-sector projects.”
She added: “I am particularly delighted to see the service being used to give Scottish suppliers an opportunity to bid for business with the 2014 Ryder Cup.”
Hector MacAulay, delivery unit managing director for Balfour Beatty, said the system worked well.
He said: “Balfour Beatty was delighted to be awarded the Scottish Crime Campus fit-out contract by tendering through the PCS portal.
“We then, for the first time on any Scottish project, used the portal service to successfully procure the work package contractors.
“The PCS service has benefited all of us. On the project we have appointed local companies employing local labour, which benefits the local community.”
Susan Love, from the Federation of Small Businesses in Scotland, said: “The FSB welcomes moves to develop the service so that the administrative burden associated with bidding for public work is minimised, especially with smaller contracts.”
CBI Scotland’s David Lonsdale said: “The Scottish Government is to be commended for making it easier for firms to navigate public procurement.
“However, they should go much further and give firms and others a ‘right to bid’ to deliver public services.
“This could improve public services, and provide better value for money for taxpayers and new opportunities for firms.”