NSW government procurement practices ‘killing’ small businesses

A $367 billion infrastructure pipeline is at risk due to government practices that are “killing” small to medium businesses, civil contractors representing 40,000 workers say.

A report released on Friday found NSW small-medium contractors are increasingly fighting over a smaller pool of government construction contracts, in favour of big multinationals.

Contracts valued at less than $50 million had dropped from 41% of all NSW government construction contracts to 23% in the past seven years, the report says.

One in two contracts are worth more than $500 million — far beyond the reach of small businesses.

Civil Contractors Federation NSW, which commissioned the report, said members were clear that current procurement processes were “killing their businesses”.