Policy paper

Crown Commercial Service’s Small and Medium-sized Enterprise (SME) action plan

Published 20 October 2025

Crown Commercial Service’s Small and Medium-sized Enterprise (SME) action plan 

Departmental SME ^{[footnote 1]} action plans set out the steps being taken to remove and reduce barriers to SMEs bidding for government contracts, and the actions departments are taking to maximise SME and start-up spend. These plans include departmental targets for direct spend with SMEs. In the case of Crown Commercial Service (CCS), being an Executive Agency of Cabinet Office, its own spend with SMEs is reported within that of Cabinet Office overall.

The Procurement Act 2023 (PA23) affirmed the Government’s commitment to SMEs in public sector procurement by writing into the regulations that public sector organisations must give due regard to SMEs in every procurement process that is undertaken. The PA23 regulations also introduced a number of new procurement procedures and transparency requirements to enable contracting authorities to attract SMEs during the bidding process. The National Procurement Policy Statement (NPPS) published in February 2025 also reinforced the Government’s mission priority of strengthening the UK economy by focusing on increasing spend with SMEs as much as possible.

This action plan sets out why and how SMEs should work with CCS, where to find opportunities and the actions we are taking to reduce barriers for SMEs in bidding for work. 

Foreword from Sam Ulyatt, Chief Executive Officer, CCS

CCS has a crucial role in the provision of common goods and services across the UK public sector, creating and providing commercial agreements, which suppliers can bid for and buyers can call off from. SMEs have always been a key component of the commercial agreements we create, recognising the benefits that they bring to our supply chains and, more broadly, the economy.

CCS also recognises that supporting the growth of the SME sector can often, in itself, be a creator of social value. SMEs can support greater localisation, reduce carbon footprints associated with delivery, create jobs, and deliver social good for communities in many other ways, helping reduce inequality in the UK.

In creating this SME Action Plan, CCS is bringing together existing and new practices to ensure that SMEs are properly represented in our agreements and supply chains. By April 2025, around 75% of suppliers on CCS commercial agreements were SMEs and just under 11% of direct spend through these agreements was with SMEs. 

In this Action Plan, we set out how we will work with our customers across the UK public sector to enable the proportion of spend with SMEs to increase further and we build on this increase.  CCS also continues its commitment of previous years to take positive action to make sure that the SME sector is well represented on our agreements.

The UK Government has committed to creating and maintaining more diverse supply chains, accessing the numerous benefits that result, such as improved resilience, access to innovation, and levelling up the country by sharing government procurement opportunities with more organisations. In addition, economic growth continues to be crucial to the prosperity of our nations, and SMEs will play a huge role in this. At CCS, we want to make sure that we continuously create opportunities for this to happen.

In May 2025, CCS conducted a self assessment of progress against the SME Advisory Panel’s 12 identified barriers to SMEs doing business with Government. Following the assessment of progress against each barrier, RAG statuses were applied in order to decide on the priority areas, which then informed the drafting of CCS’s 2025-2030 SME Strategy and this Action Plan. 

We look forward to implementing the benefits that procurement rules reform will bring. At CCS, we will strive to continuously create opportunities for SMEs when implementing procurement policies and procedure changes.

Department Overview 

CCS is an executive agency of the Cabinet Office and is the biggest public procurement organisation in the UK. CCS provides commercial agreements including closed frameworks, open frameworks, dynamic purchasing systems (established under PCR 2015) and dynamic markets (established under PA23) for UK public sector organisations to call off from. 

UK public sector organisations can benefit from a simplified tender process, run further competitions or in some circumstances award without competition to the suppliers on our commercial agreements. 

As of May 2025, CCS had 109 live commercial agreements (including PCR 2015 Frameworks, Dynamic Purchasing Systems (DPS) and MOUs) and transacted over £39bn through them in the financial year 24/25.  We cover 3 category groupings across estates, corporate and technology.

CCS commercial agreements use competition among suppliers to increase quality and value. 

How SMEs can work with us

As of June 2025, SMEs account for around 75% of suppliers on CCS’s commercial agreements. SMEs can bid directly for a place on one of our frameworks, dynamic purchasing systems or dynamic markets. 

How to become a supplier on a Crown Commercial Service framework agreement

  A framework is a type of commercial agreement and provides a compliant way for the public sector to buy products or services from pre-approved suppliers. There are 2 framework types suppliers can supply services to: Closed Frameworks and Open Frameworks. 

  An open framework is a new type of commercial agreement under the Procurement Act 2023 regulations that can last up to 8 years. An open framework is made up of several frameworks that run one after another under the same overall banner. Each smaller framework will provide the same goods, services or works on substantially the same terms. Open frameworks allow new suppliers to join or rejoin at different times throughout the framework’s life. This means suppliers don’t have to wait years for the next opportunity. They can apply to join an existing framework when it reopens. The framework must reopen for new suppliers at least once during the first 3 years and at least once during the following 5 years before the agreement ends.

  For further guidance on how to supply through an open framework, read the guidance on 

how to supply through an open framework.

  A closed framework is a new type of commercial agreement under the Procurement Act 2023 regulations. Closed frameworks are very similar to frameworks under the Public Contract Regulations 2015 (PCR2015). They typically have a maximum duration and usually  last for  4 years but some frameworks can last up to 8 years.  Suppliers will need to apply for a place on a closed framework before it goes live. Once a framework of this type has started and suppliers are awarded a place, no new suppliers are able to join. 

  For further guidance on how to supply through a closed framework, read the guidance on how to supply through a closed framework.

How to become a supplier on a Crown Commercial Service Dynamic Purchasing System

A Dynamic Purchasing System (DPS) is a type of commercial agreement under the Procurement Contract Regulations 2015 (PCR2015). They are designed to give buyers access to a selection of pre-qualified suppliers. A supplier must pass our pre-arranged checks to become a supplier on one of our DPSs. If successful, the supplier will join the DPS and customers will be able to use a filtering system to create a list of suppliers who suit their needs. The application process for joining a DPS is usually quicker and simpler than for a framework. Suppliers can also offer additional services throughout the life of the DPS, should their business expand into new areas, providing these new services fall under the remit of the original agreement’s scope.

For further guidance on how to become a supplier on a DPS read the guidance on what is the process for supplying to a dynamic purchasing system

How to become a supplier on a Dynamic Market

A Dynamic Market (DM) is a type of commercial agreement under the Procurement Act 2023 (PA2023). They are designed to give buyers access to a selection of pre-approved suppliers. A supplier must pass our pre-arranged checks to become a supplier on one of our DMs. A DM has a greater scope than a DPS because DMs are set up for a wider range of goods, services and works. New suppliers can be added through the lifetime of the DM. Suppliers not on the DM can see new advertised opportunities as tender notices are published for each procurement. However only above threshold procurements can be awarded under a DM.    

For further guidance on how to become a supplier on a DM, read the guidance on what is the process for supplying to dynamic markets

SMEs are also able to subcontract. For further details see below section on Joining a Supply Chain under the Links to departmental commercial opportunities section. 

SMEs are also able to bid as a consortia. CCS defines a consortium as 2 or more suppliers coming together to submit a bid for a tender. There is no limit to the number of members that may be in a consortium. Consortia bids are accepted across all of our commercial agreements. SMEs may choose to form a consortium to submit a bid for a procurement because individually they may not be able to meet all of the tender requirements but collectively they can.  If you are looking to grow your business, but can’t tender for larger public sector contracts independently, joining a consortium could be a solution. 

Why CCS supports the increased use of SMEs    

According to the Federation of Small Businesses in 2024:

•  5.45 million micro and small businesses accounted for 99.2% of all UK businesses. 
•  5.55 million SMEs accounted for 99.8% of all UK private sector businesses. 
• 16.6 million people in the UK, were employed by SMEs  (circa 60% of private sector employment)
• SME turnover was estimated at £2.8 trillion (circa 50% of turnover in the UK private sector)

SMEs are the backbone of the UK economy. They are a primary source of UK employment and contribute a substantial amount to total turnover. They are a source of new ideas, skills and technologies and make the marketplace more dynamic and contribute to a more efficient and productive economy. When one SME thrives, it often stimulates growth at other nearby businesses, fostering a dynamic, interdependent ecosystem of goods and services. SMEs also provide specialist support to larger companies and are often a vital link in the supply chain for larger organisations.

SMEs are particularly effective when it comes to supporting local economies; they create jobs and bring growth and prosperity to areas outside of our main cities, which facilitates the equal distribution of income and wealth. SMEs are often deeply rooted in their local communities, supporting local businesses, helping to keep town centres alive and bringing an understanding of local culture in the areas in which they work. Many regional customers strongly prefer working with local companies and SMEs in order to support their own social value and sustainability commitments.

SMEs offer customers a wider choice of products and services, generating competition and are adept at driving innovation across a range of industries to capture new audiences. Furthermore they are often more agile than larger suppliers, allowing them to quickly respond to market changes, customer demands and new opportunities. SMEs are often more adaptable than larger suppliers, so can be more responsive to customers’ needs, offering bespoke, specialist services with a ‘hands on’ approach. Customers value their subject matter expertise and their niche industry knowledge.

CCS’s unique position in the Public Sector enables us to be a key supporter of SMEs.

Progress on actions detailed in the previous CCS SME Action Plan

The Senior Sponsor for SMEs remains the CCS sponsor for Social Value and for Voluntary, Community and Social Enterprises (VCSEs), ensuring positive alignment with interdisciplinary policy areas. CCS’s Policy Implementation Network brings together CCS’s functions to reduce siloed working. The SME, VCSE and Social Value champions are all part of the group and regularly share best practice and discuss common challenges. We have also maintained board-level visibility of our SME Strategy. 

We maintain alignment with the Cabinet Office’s Small Business Advisory Panel and Policy teams, as well as the SME Crown Representative. We also frequently collaborate with other departments to share, extend and embed good practice.

SME champions across CCS have continued to promote the SME agenda across the organisation and to champion the use of SMEs and highlight the barriers SMEs face and how we can mitigate and where possible remove them.

CCS’s CXD team continues to capture customer feedback to understand what is key to customers in relation to the SME agenda and that each new agreement considers customer requirements.

CCS continues to ensure that new commercial agreements give regard to SMEs and support SME participation. Extensive pre-market engagement continues to be conducted with all suppliers, including SMEs in ways that encourage SMEs to actively contribute. 

We have introduced a new series of “Supplier Specifics” articles which explain tender requirements and procurement policy notes that may apply and explain where SMEs can find further guidance. One such article included written guidance on bidding as a consortium on CCS’s commercial agreements. 

CCS has continued to deliver knowledge sharing forums to buyers to educate them about barriers to doing business with SMEs and to enable them to change their behaviour where possible to encourage greater SME participation and likelihood of winning call off contracts.

 ## Our actions for this 2025-26 Action Plan

The seven improvement actions detailed below were identified from within CCS’s 2025-2030 SME Strategy as those that could be achieved within the next 12 to 18 months.

The actions address the need for early consultation with SMEs, even before market engagement for a commercial agreement. This helps SMEs to understand the opportunities available to them; how they can get onto CCS commercial agreements and what guidance and support is available to them. Regional Meet the Buyer events also facilitate crucial networking both with CCS and public sector buying organisations with other suppliers.

That early SME engagement will complement other internal process improvement to ensure that the needs and benefits of SMEs are fully considered throughout the procurement lifecycle, and that buyers understand how the agreement can support their SME goals.

The creation and sharing of resources that are designed to clarify some of the more complex aspects of public procurement will make it easier for SMEs to work with the public sector. The monthly series of supplier-specific articles is designed to explain key aspects of public sector procurement such as tender requirements and procurement policy notes that may apply. They also signpost SMEs to where they can find further guidance, helping SMEs to feel more confident in bidding. 

A recorded overview of CCS agreements, which are due to open for bidding within six months, is designed to help SMEs understand which CCS agreements/lots best fit their offerings and why. Providing information that is easy to access, and on-demand is key and awareness of pipelines will help SMEs to have time to prepare and allocate resources. All SMEs will be signposted to the Central Digital Platform to ensure they are able to participate in CCS procurement opportunities.The terms and conditions guidance documentation will help SMEs understand all of the schedules and general terms, including how they are used. This will save time and help to focus efforts when bidding, as well as enabling SMEs to ask more informed legal clarification questions.

Finally, our comprehensive SME data set will both help public sector organisations to understand their current usage of SMEs on CCS commercial agreements and to set appropriate SME direct spend targets, as well as to measure their progress against the achievement of these targets and compare their SME usage against other public sector organisations.

Improvement Action	Benefit to SMEs	Milestones
Support SMEs to understand how to access and benefit from the Central Digital Platform (CDP) 1) Increase signposting of Central Digital Platform (CDP) support and guidance available on GOV.UK, encouraging SMEs to register and input their core business information 2) Provide any feedback from suppliers to the Cabinet Office CDP team about required enhancements to increase the readability of alerts when appropriate.	The CDP and its alerts are designed to reduce complexity, bureaucracy and increase transparency. By registering on the CDP, suppliers are able to participate in CCS’s procurement opportunities.	References to GOV.UK guidance including video step by step guides are made in the following places: In all new CCS commercial agreements’ pre market engagement (PME) On the CCS website In a supplier specifics article In a banner at the top of individual CCS commercial agreements’ webpages In CCS agreement supplier newsletters Quarterly meetings with the Cabinet Office (CO) CDP development team to discuss and plan enhancements to the CDP and enable communication to SMEs via GOV.UK guidance and webinars delivered by Cabinet Office.
Publishing a recorded overview of CCS agreements where tender release is expected in the next six months	Improved transparency of upcoming CCS Agreements which will help SMEs prepare their bidding pipeline and increase understanding of where to focus their efforts to yield the best results. Specifically regarding but not limited to: which CCS agreements/lots best fit their offering and why what each agreement is designed for the agreement type e.g. DPS/ DM/ open framework likely number of buyers using each agreement limited or unlimited supplier places per lot expected supplier numbers to be awarded by lot policy and contractual obligations	Content to be relevant, reviewed and where necessary, updated quarterly
Deliver and support regional Government Meet the Buyer events	SMEs are able to speak to multiple buyers, network, have their queries answered and hear from other SMEs that have been successful. Topics covered at the events might include: How to get onto CCS agreements and understand how to promote yourself to win business Departmental updates (pipeline opportunities; policy changes) Overview of subcontracting opportunities (how to reach out to prime contractors) Overview of consortia bidding One to one meetings between SMEs and Gov/ networking Live SME case studies showcasing SME growth as a result of working with CCS/ Gov depts, clearly indicating which lot on an agreement this was achieved through Social Value	Deliver at least 6 events in Cambridge, York, London, Bristol, Manchester and Cardiff over the life of the Action Plan Attend a minimum of 3 events organised by other departments over the life of the Action Plan
Continue to prepare and publish articles of interest for SMEs, for example the Supplier Specifics series	Improved transparency of CCS and Government’s processes and policies with a wider SME audience able to access information via relationships with Trade Bodies/ Associations. Increased understanding of the different procurement standards/ certifications/ requirements.	Publishing quarterly Driving traffic on previously published resources Tailoring communications style to meet with feedback gained from SME community
Provide a guidance document pertaining to the standardised CCS terms and conditions within the Public Sector Contract (PSC). CCS will also provide guidance to highlight the differences between iterations of agreements’ terms and conditions	Providing a higher level of understanding of key aspects of terms and conditions, including what they are used for and when. Providing clarity on any nuances between different versions of agreements. This addresses a number of barriers to SMEs. Providing the overview will help SMEs navigate the terms and conditions during the bidding window and help SMEs to ask more informed legal clarification questions, making best use of their bidding time.	Produce guidance on the standard Public Sector Contract Digital Outcomes and Specialists 7 (DOS7) and G Cloud 15 specific guidance on the terms and conditions.
Comprehensive, up to date, SME data set available to both CCS and buyers to improve decision making	Comprehensive CCS reporting enables buyers to set and monitor the achievement of their direct spend targets with SMEs. This enables buyers to understand where there may be greater opportunity to remove barriers to using SMEs, and to improve outcomes for SMEs.	Make data available to both CCS and buyers Data shared with buyers at least quarterly [by CXD Account Teams] Content to be relevant, reviewed and, where necessary, updated based on user feedback
Continually improve internal processes to ensure due regard for SMEs is consistently considered throughout the procurement lifecycle, to ensure the needs and benefits of SMEs are fully considered, and that buyers understand how the agreement can support their SME goals.	SMEs considering whether to bid on each CCS commercial agreement understand pre-tender whether it is worth them investing the time to bid for each CCS agreement. SMEs are better placed to bid for CCS agreements because they can quickly identify the scale of the activity and which documentation must be completed. Buyers understand which lots of each agreement offer most SME opportunity.	Deliver commercial agreements that highlight within the PME (available to buyers): What has been done to make the agreement more SME friendly Which lots are best suited for SMEs and why Deliver commercial agreements to highlight within the bid packs (available to suppliers): How they will present bidder information so that bidders can easily identify which documentation applies to the specific lots they are interested in and can disregard the rest Deliver commercial agreements that, when implemented, highlight to buyers how the needs and benefits of SMEs have been considered, and how the agreement can support them to achieve their SME goals.

Links to departmental commercial opportunities

Joining Frameworks / DPS/ DMs

Search the Crown Commercial Service commercial agreement pipeline for upcoming agreements.

Joining a Supply Chain

To find out about subcontracting opportunities, SMEs can look on the CCS website and select “search agreements” When suppliers find an agreement that they think would be a good fit for their offerings, they can click on it, go to products and suppliers and see a list of the prime suppliers and their contact details and can reach out to any of them.

CCS supplier events 

Commercial Agreement Preliminary Market Engagement (PME)

CCS supplier market engagement sessions are detailed for each commercial agreement in the future pipeline list on the CCS upcoming agreements page. Each supplier market engagement date has a link which takes suppliers to the registration page for the session. This will explain how the supplier market engagement will be conducted e.g. online or in person. The aims of each session will be explained. For example, the aims could be to present initial proposals for a commercial agreement and to gather feedback and ideas regarding the development of the agreement. 

Presentation slides and Q&As will be sent to all suppliers who attend a supplier market engagement session. For those who were unable to attend, they are uploaded to the relevant agreement page following the session.  

Supplier 1-2-1 sessions may also be offered where appropriate and possible as part of supplier market engagement to those organisations who request them. Supplier 1-2-1 sessions are an opportunity for suppliers to ask further questions of the project and commercial teams. This approach works really well to enable SMEs to get detailed information about the customer requirements and form a qualification view about whether to bid or not.

Event Name	Where	When
Regional Meet the Buyer	Cambridge	11/9/2025
Regional Meet the Buyer	Bristol	TBC/2025
Regional Meet the Buyer	York	4/11//2025
Regional Meet the Buyer	London	2/12/2025
Regional Meet the Buyer	Manchester	TBC/2026
Regional Meet the Buyer	Cardiff	TBC/2026

SME Hub

The small and medium business hub is a dedicated space for SMEs looking to work with the government. Here you will find links to other departmental action plans and centralised guidance on bidding for government work. 

The above link also provides contact details on LinkedIN for the SME Crown Representative.

Contact us

Please reach out to us using smefeedback@crowncommercial.gov.uk.

Appendix

1. Numbers and % of SMEs on CCS agreements 

The first table below relates to SMEs on all CCS agreements. 

Due to the success of DOS and G-Cloud in particular, in terms of attracting SMEs, the second table excludes Bespoke Application Development and Cloud Services sub-categories under which DOS and G-Cloud fall respectively (albeit Bespoke Application Development may cover other Digital Data and Technology (DDaT) agreements as well as DOS).

Both of the tables show year on year growth for the last five financial years, in terms of total number of suppliers awarded to CCS agreements that are SMEs and the percentage of the total number of suppliers that SMEs constitute. 

The year on year growth is testament to the work CCS has undertaken since the first CCS SME Action Plan was published in 2022 to improve SMEs’ experience in engaging with CCS, to ensure SMEs understand the requirements for bidding and have the necessary guidance and information to participate in CCS procurement opportunities.

Availability of SMEs on CCS commercial agreements is essential for Central Government departments to be able to meet their direct spend targets with SMEs.

Numbers and % of SMEs on all CCS agreements

Financial year	Total suppliers	SME suppliers	SME suppliers as a % of total
2020/21	12,007	8,926	74.3%
2021/22	11,499	8,385	72.9%
2022/23	13,264	9,876	74.5%
2023/24	12,823	9,595	74.8%
2024/25	13,142	9,905	75.4%

Numbers and % of SMEs on CCS agreements excluding “Bespoke Application Development” and “Cloud Services” sub-categories:

Financial year	Total suppliers	SME suppliers	SME suppliers as a % of total
2020/21	4,045	2,279	56.3%
2021/22	4,952	2,899	58.5%
2022/23	5,550	3,421	61.6%
2023/24	6,457	4,196	65.0%
2024/25	7,102	4,841	68.2%

2. Spend through CCS agreements with SMEs 

The below table shows the total spend transacted through CCS commercial agreements over the last five financial years. It is important to note that CCS provides commercial agreements for UK public sector organisations to call off from. Therefore the direct spend with SMEs relates to the UK public sector organisations’ call off contract spend, which for Central Government customers will form part of their reported direct spend and associated targets. CCS does not have its own direct spend target with SMEs as this would be duplicative.

Financial year	Total agreement spend (£)	Direct spend with SMEs (£)	Direct spend with SMEs %
2020/21	£19,960m	£2,221m	11.1%
2021/22	£25,507m	£2,696m	10.6%
2022/23	£27,921m	£3,627m	13.0%
2023/24	£33,582m	£4,186m	12.5%
2024/25	£36,190m	£3,913m	10.8%

View historical central government spend with SMEs

3. Our payment performance

Late payment is an issue for businesses, especially smaller businesses, as it can adversely affect their cash flow and jeopardise their ability to trade. The government recognises that the public sector should set a strong example by paying promptly. CCS is leading by example and paying our suppliers promptly. CCS, as part of the public sector, is required to pay their suppliers in 30 days and report on its performance on an annual basis. 30-day terms also apply in our supply chains. CCS’s latest payment performance is set out below. The figures show that CCS goes above and beyond the requirement to pay suppliers in 30 days, with over  90% of all invoices paid within 5 days and 100% of invoices are paid within 30 days.

It must be noted that this payment data relates to how CCS pays its suppliers in relation to spend incurred in running its own business. It is not a record of payment by the many customers who use CCS’s commercial agreements.

Financial Year 2024/25	Percentages of invoices paid within 5 days (%)
Q1	92.24
Q2	99.07
Q3	95.83
Q4	92.44

View further information on government’s payment policy and legislation

1. “small and medium-sized enterprises” means suppliers that— (a) have fewer than 250 staff, and (b) have a turnover of an amount less than or equal to £44 million or a balance sheet total of an amount less than or equal to £38 million; See Clause 122 of the Procurement Act 2023 ↩