Recent amendments to government procurement rules were yesterday criticised by the Chamber for Small and Medium Enterprises, the GRTU.

It said barring small and medium enterprises from sub-contracting work was the most negative and anti-self employed action on record.

The changes were unveiled a month ago, in a bid to combat precarious employment. The Government said there had been various incidents of private companies sub-contracting public tenders to third parties who offered sub-standard working conditions.

The GRTU yesterday warned it will resort to all legal means both in Malta and European institutions to fight against “this imposition”.

GRTU alarmed at the way the Government ignored its warnings

It said that contrary to what the Prime Minister and the Principal Permanent Secretary said during a meeting with its executive council – when they assured them this was just a misunderstanding – correspondence from the Contracts Department showed otherwise.

The GRTU published a circular letter dated July 5 in which the department advised all bidders for the healthcare professionals training tender that “no sub-contracting is allowed”.

The GRTU said it was alarmed with the manner in which the Government had ignored its warnings and arbitrarily changed the rules. It had limited the participation of small enterprises, since the majority did not have the full capacity to implement tenders.

The GRTU said small businesses would no longer be allowed to team up with similar firms to carry out the full requirements of the tender.

It said this was normal business practice internationally, backing up its argument by saying that 420,000 small businesses in the EU used sub-contracting in public tenders.

The GRTU warned the new rules will force many small businesses to shut.