Madam the Technical Advisor of the Ministry of Small and Medium Enterprises, Social Economy and Handicrafts,

Honorable Representative of the Minister of Planning and Regional Development,

Mr. Representative of the Minister of Public Procurement,

Mr. Representative of the Governor of the Littoral Region,

Ladies and gentlemen, the administrative authorities of the Department of Wouri,

Mr. Executive Director of the Subcontracting and Partnership Exchange,

Ladies and Gentlemen, Directors General of Small and Medium Enterprises,

Distinguished Guests,

Dear attendees,

Ladies and gentlemen,

      It is with real pleasure that I wish you a cordial and sincere welcome to this room of the AKWA PALACE hotel, on the occasion of the holding today of the consultation workshop between MINMAP and the private sector, on the "Strategy to support national SMEs' access to public contracts, in the light of the provisions of the Public Contracts Code".

      I would like to thank you from the outset for having come in large numbers to take part in these meetings, the objective of which is to enable our SMEs to better understand the normative framework of public procurement, and to draw inspiration from it to explore all avenues access to public order.

       Is it still necessary to specify that one of the missions of MINPMEESA, of which the Subcontracting and Partnership Exchange is one of the secular arms, consists in supporting our SMEs in competitiveness so that they can, in the same way as other production forces, gain more market share?

Ladies and gentlemen,

According to the International Trade Center, the government is the largest purchaser of goods and services in developing countries, spending between 9% and 13% of gross domestic product (GDP). This observation testifies to the fact that in a country such as ours, public procurement is a real opportunity for increasing the turnover of SMEs which, it should be remembered, constitute 98% of the Cameroonian entrepreneurial fabric. In addition to the possibility of making substantial gains, a public market brings the company predictability, experience and, of course, references. Our SMEs should engage in this fertile ground more than today, because they have a number of advantages to promote, particularly in terms of local know-how and innovation. Unfortunately, they often struggle to develop their potential when they happen to bid for a contract.

There is no need to carry out a specific study for this purpose, to find that many SMEs are reluctant to respond to public calls for tenders, because, among other things:

• the weakness of their cash flow which does not allow them to absorb late payments or pay relatively high bid bonds;
• ignorance of the preferential mechanisms put in place by the government, and of procurement procedures;
• inexperience in the field of public procurement;
• the technical inability to formulate a market proposal or to determine a competitive price.

Ladies and gentlemen,

Public procurement is today an effective instrument for the development of the national economy and more particularly of local businesses.

It is for this purpose that specific provisions have been included in the legal framework for our SMEs, to facilitate their access to public contracts. It's about :

• the obligation made to the State in Law No. 2010/001 of April 13, 2010 on the promotion of SMEs, to contribute to their development by setting up, in compliance with the country's international commitments, a public procurement quota system;
• the mission entrusted to the BSTP by the organic texts of the economic interest group that created it, to facilitate access for SMEs to subcontracting with large companies;
• the preferential mechanism in public procurement, instituted by the Public Procurement Code.

To this legal system, we must add the whole battery of measures taken to respond to the challenges that challenge Cameroonian SMEs on the improvement of:

• the level of compliance with public administration requirements;
• the degree of application of the standards;
• collaboration between companies, in the sharing of ideas;
• technical and resource management skills;
• innovation capabilities.

Despite the efforts thus made, SMEs, particularly those in processing, do not yet sufficiently invest in the field of public consumption. By way of illustration, to meet the needs of public administrations, our country imports on average per year, furniture for a value of 13 billion CFA francs. It is among other things, to curb this type of trend and limit its perverse effects, that the SND 30, which is our economic compass, sets as its development objective the structural transformation of our economy. Also, public market players are expected to stimulate domestic production through sustained consumption.

In addition to the difficulties I have just mentioned, the access of small players to public contracts suffers from the persistence of the informal sector in the provision of numerous services, and from the still very widespread idea that under- contracting is limited only to very large-scale projects relating to a limited number of fields of activity. This is perhaps an opportunity to recall that there are many SMEs in our country capable of subcontracting in branches such as food processing, textile manufacturing, tailoring and clothing, wood and other forest products, chemical manufacturing, metal and mechanical work, industrial cleaning, civil engineering, electrical engineering, digital services, and contract packaging services. This abundant diversity of the offer should allow companies of all sectors and of all sizes, with specific know-how, to participate through subcontracting, to the realization of public contracts and to bring a significant share of local content.

The conquest of public markets by SMEs, not being limited to the sole will of the latter, the successful bidder and, where applicable, the principal, should in turn be convinced of the relevance of the domestic offer.

Dear attendees,

   I hope that in the light of the explanations that will be given to you on the subtleties of the Code des Marches Publics, and the presentations that will be presented to you by the experts, you will have the necessary material to conquer the public markets.

         Perhaps this is the opportunity for you, because these are recurring concerns:

• to define a guide to good conduct for SMEs with regard to public contracts and a code of ethics for all the actors concerned;
• develop feedback on tendering procedures by listing best practices;
• put in place mechanisms to support SMEs' access to credit, for the financing of securities relating to public procurement and the implementation of contracts;
• establish allotment as a principle, to create fair competition between companies regardless of their size;
• to centralize data at national and regional level on public market opportunities.

Ladies and gentlemen,

Dear Attendees,

I cannot close my remarks without expressing my infinite gratitude to the Minister of Public Procurement, who kindly supported this initiative by designating his collaborators to lead the workshop.

I hope that today's meetings can meet the expectations of the main targets, which are SMEs, so that they can, on leaving here, integrate public procurement into their strategy to conquer markets.

With this, I declare open "the consultation workshop between MINMAP and the private sector on the "Strategy to support the access of national SMEs to public procurement, in the light of the provisions of the Public Procurement Code".

Thank you for your kind attention.