Preferential given to small firms

Preferential given to small firms

JAKARTA (JP): Tenders for all municipal government projects worth under Rp 200 million would be offered exclusively to less capitalized enterprises as of this April, an official of the pre- qualification committee said yesterday.

Rozali, the general secretary of the committee, told reporters that the rule would apply to all projects, whether financed out of the city's development budget or out of routine budgets.

The move follows a presidential ruling that requires that the government help promote small enterprises by giving them priority in tenders for development projects, he said.

The city was now inviting all small enterprises to enlist with the committee so that they could take part in the pre-qualification process for the tender of various city projects and also of those offered by state companies within the boundaries of Jakarta, he told the Antara news agency.

The city recognizes two categories of small enterprises: those in trade, services and distribution whose assets are less than Rp 100 million; and those in construction and manufacturing whose assets are less than Rp 400 million.

Rozali said that only enterprises owned by "pribumi" (indigenous people) qualified, even though this stipulation was not contained in the regulation.

The pre-qualification committee will look into the composition of companies' boards of commissioners and directors in determining whether a company qualified for the 'small enterprise' category, he said.

A company wishing to be included in future tenders must have obtained both an ordinary registration number (TDR C2) and a special registration number (TDR GEL). With these two registrations they would be entitled to bid for projects worth between Rp 15 million and Rp 200 million, Rozali said.

The municipal office has so far received only 2,100 applications for the special registration since it had become available last November, he said.

"This is far too small a number seeing that the latest Municipal Office data shows that there must be at least 8,000 small contractors and 18,000 suppliers of goods and services which qualify as small enterprises," Rizal said. (emb)