Enhanced Tendering Activity of Small and Medium-sized Enterprises2011. április 15.
‘There is exceptional interest for the business development tenders of the New Széchenyi Plan’, said Ágnes Molnár at the summit organized by the Hungarian Association of Managers held on 13 April 2011 in Budapest.
The State Secretary for Development Coordination announced that in a six weeks' period 1000 tenders were submitted to the New Széchenyi Plan's calls for tenders.
Ágnes Molnár said that the system of development policy was built and operated based on a unified comprehensive strategy and focused development goals. Regulations were simplified, source coordination became unified, the system of institutions is more transparent, and the system of support became more effective. As a result of these measures payments are significantly faster – the payment amount has tripled since the new government took office. As opposed to the monthly average of payments of HUF 22 billion, since June 2010 a monthly average of HUF 65 billion had been paid to the selected contractors.
‘Changes to the system were implemented along with an extensive national consultation that will continue in the future’, said the State Secretary, who emphasized that the significantly more targeted and effective use of the remaining EU sources of HUF 2020 billion could give a significant boost to investments in progress and could help micro, small and medium-sized enterprises creating jobs to gain strength.
Ágnes Molnár informed participants that after the start of the new support scheme there was a rapid growth in the number of submitted tenders – their number was over 1000 at the point of her speech. The amount of support requested by tenderers exceeds HUF 174 billion. Greatest interest was shown for the Business Development Programme with 619 tender proposals submitted so far in a total of HUF 60 billion.
‘The number of active calls for tenders grows continuously; proposals are also accepted continuously and there is more time available for drawing up tenders, as contrary to the previous period's practice calls for tenders are open until the budget is depleted’, emphasized Ágnes Molnár and added that 90 calls for tenders were open at that point.
The Ministry of Development has extended the number of information sources, as the government wishes that beside EU funds, tendering information should also reach the concerned parties at a faster pace. ‘As part of this initiative we aimed to provide the necessary information in every part of the country’, emphasized the State Secretary.
As a result of this the New Széchenyi Plan's Infopoint network was created and now information is available at 193 customer information points beside the 18 regional customer services offices. Government ‘windows’ will join the information network of New Széchenyi Plan soon.
‘On Wednesday, the government decided to set up the Széchenyi Programme Office’, announced Ágnes Molnár at the event. As a result of the decision by May a single national network will be available that fulfils the following tasks: distribution of information, coordination among the intermediate bodies and the tenderers, and liaising.