Small businesses interested in tapping the 20% of government contracts that have been set aside for them, will be judged based on a points system with those that have been in existence longer being ranked higher than more recently established operations, head of the Small Business Bureau (SBB) Dr Lowell Porter says.
They will also have to pass a screening, Porter said at a press conference yesterday. He was at the time responding to questions regarding mechanisms that will be put in place to ensure that only small businesses, and not larger businesses posing as small businesses, benefit from the 20% of government contracts that have been set aside for them. The Small Business Act of 2004 requires that at least 20% of procurement of goods and services required annually by the government be obtained from small business. The programme is set to kick off in the new year.
“From our end, there is a registration process so they have to register. Through that process we will also verify… We have been working with developing MoUs (Memoranda of Understanding) with GRA (Guyana Revenue Authority) and NIS (National Insurance Scheme) and we believe that once we have that application, we will try to verify if that person is indeed a small business and if they have submitted any returns that put them outside the criteria of a small business,” Porter said.