Ms Clare McGrath:

We engage with the Irish Small and Medium Enterprises Association, ISME, and the Small Firms Association, SFA. Through InterTradeIreland we have had workshops and meet-the-buyer events. We have engaged with approximately 4,500 SMEs, providing them with information on what it means to do business with the State and trying to help them with the documentation and the necessary compliance procedures and legal considerations, explaining how they can engage. It is constant work in the NPS to get more people actively tendering. Registering with eTenders alerts SMEs to competitions that may be of interest to them so they do not have to be constantly watching for it.