The Forum of Private Business (FPB) has called for a greater degree of involvement to help small to medium-sized enterprises (SME) in the procurement of government contracts.

Following a period of research, the FPB has announced a number of recommendations to help SMEs compete more effectively in the tendering process; in particular, the FPB would like to see the abolition of preferred suppliers in place of competitive tendering.

"It makes perfect sense to make it easier for firms to submit bids and gain as many tenders as is possible for each contract, in order to get as much competition as possible," said Nick Goulding, chief executive of the FPB.

"Unfortunately, this is not the current case in the UK," he added.

The FPB has also recommended that the government establish a quota system, to ensure that a minimum number of SMEs are awarded public sector contracts.

Established in 1977, the FPB represents around 25,000 UK-based private businesses.