SMEs in Germany are significant contributors to jobs and value added in the “non-financial business economy”. They contribute to approximately 63% of total employment and 53% of value added.
SMEs in Public Procurement
Practices and Strategies for Shared Benefits
OECD Public Governance Reviews
16. Germany
16.1. SMEs in the national economy
Table 16.1. Basic figures of the non-financial business economy in Germany, 2015
Note: These estimates for 2015 are produced by DIW Econ, based on 2008-13 figures from the Structural Business Statistics Database (Eurostat). The data cover the non-financial business economy, which includes industry, construction, trade and services (NACE Rev. 2 sections B to J, L, M and N), but not enterprises in agriculture, forestry or fisheries or the largely non-market service sectors such as education and health. The advantage of using Eurostat data is that the statistics are harmonised and comparable across countries. The disadvantage is that for some countries the data may be different from those published by national authorities.
Source: (European Commission, 2017[1]).
16.2. National policy framework to support SMEs in public procurement
Germany has long considered the interests of SMEs in public procurement. In cases of changes to the public procurement provisions, their potential impact on SME participation in public procurement procedures is thoroughly examined. In particular, to facilitate their access to public procurement opportunities and ensure a level playing field, contracting authorities have been obliged to divide public contracts into lots. In order to help contracting authorities do so, the Federal Ministry of Economic Affairs has issued a guidance paper on the division into lots. It has also made an electronic calculation tool available to contracting authorities, to help them find the right size of lots.
Policies and strategies, especially those on sustainable public procurement and innovation in public procurement, take SMEs into consideration. The Action Plan on Sustainability (Maßnahmenprogramm Nachhaltigkeit) under the responsibility of the Federal Chancellery (Bundeskanzleramt) sets out actions on public procurement conducted by the federal government. The Competence Centre for Sustainable Public Procurement (KNB) was created to help the public procurement authorities, including those at the regional and local level, put policy goals on sustainability into practice. It advises all contracting authorities in Germany with regard to environmental, economic and social criteria. Furthermore, the Competence Centre for Innovative Procurement (KOINNO) was created to help the contracting authorities at the federal as well as regional and local levels put the policy goal of furthering innovation through public procurement and procuring innovative goods and services into practice. KOINNO, similar to KNB, provides guidance – e.g. on its webpage1 and at workshops – in the form of best practice examples and advice on concrete practical questions.
16.3. Implementation mechanisms
The Federal Ministry of Economic Affairs has issued a guidance paper on the division into lots. It has also made an electronic calculation tool available to contracting authorities to help them find the right size of lots.
Furthermore, mandatory use of e-procurement for central purchasing bodies and further obligatory application of use for all public procurement above the threshold from April 2018 facilitates SMEs’ participation in public procurement market.
As a way of engaging with SMEs, there are meetings on different levels between government representatives and representatives of SMEs and their associations. Government representatives take part in expert conferences conducted by SME associations. In this way, the positions of the SME associations are regularly heard and taken into account.
16.4. Monitoring performance
SME participation in the German public procurement market is expected to be measured and monitored once the new statistics on public procurement introduced by regulation is implemented. Data on the SME share of public procurement contracts awarded by the central purchasing bodies are currently available.
Figure 16.1. Share of CPB contracts awarded to SMEs in Germany
Source: Country response to the 2017 OECD survey on strategic use of public procurement to support SMEs.
Reference
[1] European Commission (2017), SBA Fact Sheets 2016, http://ec.europa.eu/DocsRoom/documents/22382.
Note
← 1. de.koinno-bmwi.de.