PARLIAMENTARY WRITTEN QUESTION
Ministry of Defence: Procurement (7 September 2016)

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, for what reasons the SME status of suppliers awarded new contracts by his Department has not been assessed by Dun and Bradstreet since 2014; and if he will commission an independent assessment of the SME status of all suppliers awarded contracts by his Department in 2015-16.

Asked by:
Clive Lewis (Labour)

In 2015-16, the Ministry of Defence placed 320 new contracts with suppliers that were assessed through the Dun and Bradstreet process as small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). These had a total value of around £206 million. A further 435 contracts, with a total value of around £8,748 million, were placed with suppliers whose SME status has not currently been assessed by Dun and Bradstreet.

The Crown Commercial Service contract that identifies and assesses the SME status of suppliers through the Dun and Bradstreet process expired in 2014. As a result, while we hold management information about our expenditure with all contracted suppliers, we do not currently hold accurate information on the SME status of the 435 contracted suppliers that have not been assessed by Dun and Bradstreet.

Discussions are under way with the Crown Commercial Service and across Government to re-introduce this service, with a view to retrospective assessments being completed. This means that the above figures are provisional and subject to change.

Answered by:
Dame Harriett Baldwin (Conservative)
12 September 2016