Following assurances by the Small Business Bureau’s (SBB) Chief Executive Officer, Dr Lowell Porter that the 20 per cent provision of contracts valued up to $30 million for small businesses would come on stream this month, a source in the Ministry of Business has told Stabroek Business that the Bureau is “ready to go” with implementation.
“I know that the consultations have being (going) on at the various levels including the NDC’s and RDC’s and as far as I am aware, things are in place,” the source said.
With high levels of unemployment featuring prominently on the list of official concerns, the 20 per cent state contract allocation – which is enshrined in the 2004 Small Business Act and which had originally been scheduled to come into force as far back as the first quarter of 2017 – is likely to play a key role in generating employment across communities and across the sectors if effectively implemented. Back in 2017, the Bureau had said that a pilot project was likely to be rolled out though that never materialised.