SMEs in Public Procurement

17. Greece

17.1. SMEs in the national economy

The share of Greek enterprises defined as SMEs is 99.9%, according to data from the European Commission, corresponding to a total number of 729 353 SMEs. The share of Greek businesses defined as micro-enterprises is 96.7%, numbering 705 537 and employing fewer than 10 employees; 2.9% (21 272) are defined as small enterprises, 0.4% (2 544) as medium-sized enterprises and only 0.1% (422) as large enterprises. More than half of the workforce is employed by micro-enterprises and 86.9% by SMEs, accounting for 37.5% and 75.0% respectively of the value added in the economy. Compared with the EU-28 average, SMEs and especially micro-enterprises are more numerous and more important to the Greek economy.

Table ‎17.1. Distribution of firms in Greece, 2016

(By firm size)

% share	Number of enterprises		Number of employees		Value added
	Greece	EU-28	Greece	EU-28	Greece	EU-28
Micro	96.7	92.6	58.7	29.2	37.5	21.1
Small	2.9	6.2	14.4	20.5	21.2	18.2
Medium	0.4	1	10.8	17.5	16.4	18.8
SMEs	99.9	99.8	86.9	67.1	75	58.1
Large	0.1	0.2	13.1	32.9	25	41.9
Total	100	100	100	100	100	100

Source: (OECD, 2017[1]).

17.2. National policy framework to support SMEs in public procurement

The National Strategy for Public Procurement includes action points that aim at providing support to SMEs in public procurement. Development of the strategy reflects the recognition of public procurement as a strategic tool to support economic growth and entrepreneurship by the Greek Government.

Transposition of the 2014 EU directive on public procurement places special emphasis on SME participation in the public procurement market. In particular, division of tenders into lots is made mandatory by law.

17.3. Implementation mechanisms

The National Action Plan for Public Procurement has been developed and finalised through close co-operation with central contracting authorities, which participate in implementing the national strategy.

The General Directorate for Public Contracts and Procurement, as a national central purchasing body of Greece, also takes into account SME considerations in their activities. The Directorate holds special informative meetings on administrative and technical matters regarding upcoming procurement opportunities for the CPB framework agreements. These framework agreements also need to be divided into lots, as appropriate.

17.4. Monitoring performance

Through the e-procurement system, certain tools have been developed in order to measure, for example, economies of scale, the number of bids, the number of economic operators, completion time, etc. However, there is no measurement of the effectiveness of the strategic use of public procurement to support SMEs.

Reference

[1] OECD (2017), Financing SMEs and Entrepreneurs 2017: An OECD Scoreboard, OECD Publishing, Paris, http://dx.doi.org/10.1787/fin_sme_ent-2017-en.