Bosses in the construction industry have called for public procurement practices to be reformed, to allow companies more confidence in what the Scottish Building Federation currently calls a 'lottery'.

Scottish construction firms are spending huge sums on unsuccessful public procurement bids with each pre-qualification questionnaire completed having only a one in thirty-six chance of securing them new work.

And almost two thirds of small construction firms say they have opted out of public procurement entirely over the past three years because the costs are so prohibitively high.

These are two findings of the latest Scottish Construction Monitor, a quarterly survey of employers in the Scottish construction industry carried out by the Scottish Building Federation.

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The survey also finds confidence has subsided for the fourth consecutive survey period and now stands at minus 40. Confidence has now fallen by 34 points in the past year and currently stands three points below where it was in the third quarter of 2010 when the impact of the previous recession was at its height. More than two-thirds of all respondents are now less confident about the prospects for their business in the year ahead compared to the preceding 12 months.

Michael Levack of the SBF said: "This latest survey shows what a lottery the current public procurement process has become. I've heard employers representing businesses of all sizes argue they would have better odds of generating revenue by placing bets at the roulette wheel than tendering for public contracts. The root and branch reform of construction procurement the Scottish Government has promised is clearly long overdue.

"I'm pleased that the Scottish Government has finally launched a public consultation on its proposed Procurement Reform Bill. But we already know that the current procurement system is broken and the measures needed to fix it."

(NE)