UK NDA LOOKS TO INCREASE SMALL AND MEDIUM BUSINESS GOALS

The United Kingdom’s Nuclear Decommissioning Authority published on Friday a plan to nearly double the amount of subcontracting to small and medium enterprises over the next three years to 20 percent. That would add up to at least £300 million out of the NDA’s current annual budget of £3 billion—about half of which is spent on the supply chain through the NDA’s site license companies. “We, together with our SLCs, have already been working over the last few years to create improved opportunities for the smaller businesses and this challenging but realistic target is part of those measures,” NDA Head of Supply Chain Optimization Ron Gorham said in a statement. “The plan is to exceed the target in subsequent years, and continue with the initiatives now being implemented.”

 

The seven-page SME Procurement Action Plan is a detailed schedule of steps that should be taken between 2012 and 2015 to meet the 20 percent target. The plan “will require NDA, SLCs and the top-level Tier 2 contractors to consider the ‘SME friendliness’ of their procurement plans,” according to an NDA release. The NDA emphasized several actions that are already being undertaken, including the formation of a national SME steering group and five regional groups, creating a single online portal for accessing NDA procurement opportunities and simplification of subcontract flowdown requirements. The plan has been approved by the Cabinet Office and was also reviewed by the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change. Businesses that employ 250 staff or less and have a turnover of up to 50 million euros or an annual balance sheet total of less than 43 million euros meet the European Union’s standards as a small and medium enterprise.