The country’s three main employers organisations have urged the government to make changes to draft legislation on tendering for services to make sure smaller firms have equal chances to bid for government contracts.

In particular, they want more clarity on what government departments can and cannot require from bidders. At the moment, for example, some local governments demand a contractor bidding to build a bridge has already built three, the Financieele Dagblad reports. This rules out new and smaller firms.
High turnover requirements are another obstacle to equal opportunities, the paper says.
The new rules, which will be debated in parliament this week, state that demands ‘must be proportional’ but does not include hard and fast definitions.
Local councils say any increase in rules on what they can require of contractors will add to red tape and create more legal conflicts.