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Monday 23 February

The Welsh Assembly Government says it wants to bring forward public sector construction projects to help the industry in Wales through the credit crunch.

But home-grown Welsh construction companies are complaining that the procurement process is stacked against them and favours larger firms from across the border.

The experience of Chris Wynne's company - Wynne Construction - is typical.

Eighty per cent of its work used to be for the NHS, but that has fallen dramatically As a result, he's concerned that companies like his own will soon face financial crisis.

"The NHS in Wales has now introduced an all-Wales framework for all capital projects of £6 million and above."

"In Wales they've appointed up to date, three contractors, all of whom are based outside of Wales. They will deliver the major schemes for the health authorities within Wales.

But the Minister for Finance and Public Service Delivery Andrew Davies disagrees that public sector procurement is damaging the Welsh construction industry.

"In many cases where there is a framework, contract or not, a large company will often win the contract and in many cases they may not be Welsh companies.

"But a lot of the business still ends up with Welsh companies that might be sub-contracted and indeed it'll be local people who will be employed on those projects."

Steps are being taken to simplify the process and cut the cost of tendering in time and money to hard-pressed smaller Welsh firms. But Chris Wynne says it's too little too late.

"We can see a large proportion of our workload moving across the border, as similar companies are moving from across the border into Wales.

"We're going to have to work an awful lot harder and unless this system of procurement is improved and packages and bundling is stopped, we're going to suffer irrecoverable damage as a company and as an industry in Wales."