No impediment to approved government procurements, official clarifies
The majority of procurements by government agencies and other departments would proceed as planned during the current fiscal year, unaffected by the delay in government formation, a senior official said on Thursday.
Veerapong Malai, director-general of the Office of SME Promotion (OSMEP), said he wanted to ensure and encourage all Thai micro-, small-, and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs) to bid for these procurements. Some entrepreneurs are concerned that the delay in forming a new government following the general election would impact public sector spending.
Veerapong noted that each department had been preparing for this transition of power.
"If the procurement is not a new proposal requiring Cabinet approval, then the procurement can proceed as usual," he said.
His comments came during a press conference to announce a three-day event co-hosted by his office and the Federation of Thai Industries to encourage Thai MSMEs across the country to participate in public sector procurement projects.
The event, dubbed "SME GP Day", will take place on August 24-25 at the Queen Sirikit National Convention Centre.
Veerapong said the event was developed from the "Thai SME-GP" measure that the Comptroller-General’s Department and OSMEP had established to help MSMEs bid for government procurements easily. Government agencies must buy from SMEs first if the procurement value does not exceed 500,000 baht.
"The public sector could be viewed as a potential customer with regular power purchases for MSMEs." Each year, each agency has a number of projects requiring third-party assistance, such as catering services, blankets for public hospitals, office devices, and so on. As a result, there are numerous products and service requirements that the MSMEs can offer," he pointed out.
Apitcit Prasoprat, vice chairman of the Federation of Thai Industries (FTI), said more than a hundred Thai MSME businesses from eight categories would participate in the three-day SME-GP Day.
Food and beverages, office supplies, furniture and home décor, construction equipment and technician tools, clothing and apparel, medical devices and services, digital products and services, and all made-in-Thailand products registered with FTI are among them.
Apart from offering a great opportunity to connect with government agencies, Apitcit pointed out that these SMEs can reach out to end users because the event is open to the public.
The event also offers consulting services, a seminar, a workshop, and financial assistance to other entrepreneurs so that they can participate in local government procurement.
Veerapong expects the three-day event to generate more than a billion baht in sales and business opportunities under the project, as well as more than 400 billion baht in economic value from the THAI SME-GP measures.
He also hoped that the event would expand from hundreds to thousands of MSME exhibitors and become one of the country's most important annual expos.
