The UK Government has set up a new team whose aim is to help small businesses win more defense contracts and make defense an “engine of growth”.
Luke Pollard, Minister for Defense Industry and Preparedness, described small businesses as the “backbone of UK defence” as he announced the establishment of the Defense Office for Small Business Growth (OfSBG).
The OfSBG team will be made up of expert policy and trade staff, supporting UK small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) to bid and win more defense contracts.
OfSBG is expected to reverse the decline in Ministry of Defense (MOD) spending on SMEs and help deliver on the UK Government's promise to increase defense spending with SMEs by 50% by 2028.
Pollard said: “We are establishing the Defense Office for Small Business Growth as part of our mission to increase the amount of spending the MoD spends on small businesses across the country.
“We currently spend around £5 billion a year, and we want to increase that figure by 50% to £7.5 billion by 2028 – that is a huge increase that will create lots of jobs, lots of growth and make Britain stronger.
“But to do that, we want to make it easier for small businesses to engage with defense, so we can make acquisitions faster and faster, and they can get their products to market even faster.
“So it is the start of a process to make defense more friendly to small businesses, create good jobs and growth, and ensure defense is an engine of growth in every part of our country.”
The team will help simplify and accelerate processes, provide advice to SMEs and encourage private sector investment.
Pollard said the establishment of OfSBG is important amid the current security climate.
He said: “We know we live in a new era of threats and we can see the dangers on our TV screens every day, so it is very important to provide more resilience to our industrial supply chain.
“A military, an army, is only as strong as the industry that supports it and as a Government we want to put more of our growing defense budget into British businesses, both large and small, and to do this we want to make it easier for small businesses to sell their defense goods and services so we can support growth in our country and make our supply chains more resilient.”
Ahead of Tuesday's announcement, Pollard was in Renfrewshire on Monday to visit Scotland's National Manufacturing Institute, which supports innovative technology manufacturing, and also visited Viper::Blast, based in Aberdour, Fife, which specializes in rapid, high-fidelity simulation of air blasts, explosive detonations and structural loading.
OfSBG will act as a central hub for advice and support to engage with defence, ensuring procurement processes are faster, simpler and more effective.
Scottish Secretary Douglas Alexander said: “The creation of the Small Business Growth Advocacy Office is great news for Scottish businesses, workers and the economy as it will help boost opportunities and access to investment, underpinned by our commitment to increase spending with SMEs by £2.5 billion by May 2028.
“Defence is already a key driver of renewal in Scotland – the Ministry of Defense spends more than £2 billion a year on the sector in Scotland, supporting almost 12,000 jobs in the industry.
“Now, with our historic increase in spending to protect our own and European security and this new support for small and medium-sized businesses, we will further transform the sector.
“As we up our defense game, Scotland’s world-class industry and supply chain and global demand for Scottish expertise will play an important role in ensuring Britain’s security, deterring our adversaries and driving economic growth for years to come.”
A public web portal and contact center will initially support 30 SMEs, from carefully selected sectors ranging from aeronautical engineering to cyber, and will cover the whole of the UK, from the south of England to Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.
