It is hoped that Ireland’s new etender website will give an additional 30 per cent of small and medium enterprises the chance to get a state contract.
At present, 72,000 of Ireland 220,000 SMEs have a state contract, but it is hoped the new website, etenders.gov.ie will entice more business to sign up.
Speaking at the website's launch today, Procurement Minister Brian Hayes said he is surprised more businesses have not already signed up, but the dynamic new system should see more people sign up.
"The launch of the news etenders website makes a dramatic shift in favour of suppliers who have rightly complained about the endless documentation that is attached to each bid. Once that documentation is up on the site, it's there forever. It's a major advance on what have had in place," he said.
"The Government spends in the region of €9 billion annually on goods and services. We want the SME sector to win a great portion of this spend. Today's announcement is a win win for both SME firms and public sector buyers."
The website, which is hosted by a Swedish company as no Irish web company placed a bid, has a quick quote function which allows buyers to search and invite registered suppliers in their area to tender for low value contracts, typically under €25,000.
Mr Hayes said that he is not aware of any other European Union country with a facility like this and is confident that the website will provide value for money.
"I would encourage every Irish business, big and small, to register and to compete for public sector business. This technology is well ahead of what's on offer in other EU countries, while complying with all EU directives," he said.