Business leaders are calling for reform to the public procurement process, whichever party wins the next general election.
Miles Templeman, Director-General of Institute of Directors said that huge pressure on public finances meant it is vital that any new Government takes a fresh look at how the procurement system works so that taxpayers get better value for money.
Templeman was commenting on a recent speech by opposition leader, David Cameron, and went on to say that contract bids from the most innovative small and medium-sized firms often fail because of excessive red tape in the procurement process.
The Government also had a tendency to award big contracts to the largest companies rather than finding ways of splitting contracts so that firms of all sizes can bid, he claimed.
It also needs to stop dealing exclusively with large companies when tendering out big contracts. Often these big firms merely act as middlemen, and then parcel out the contracts to lots of smaller players.
It could be more efficient for the Government to cut out these middlemen and have a genuinely open bidding process, Templeman added.
A number of organisations representing interim managers have also been campaigning for procurement reform to make it easier for interims to find work in the public sector.