Self-Entrepreneurs Face Hurdles in Accessing Public Procurement Opportunities

The government’s willingness to facilitate access to public procurement for self-entrepreneurs and cooperatives is still an illusion. The subject interests La Vie Éco who wonders if, behind the announcement made by the Executive in this regard, there is really a desire to facilitate things for these two categories of operators.

Regarding the new provisions in question, it was Mohamed Amekraz, Minister of Labor and Professional Integration, who, during his appearance in parliament on January 6, mentioned the decree in question. "The draft decree amending and supplementing Decree No. 2-12-349 on public procurement has been adopted last June. This decree even gives advantages to these two categories of operators, such as simplifying the formalities to subscribe to public contracts," the minister had stressed.

However, in practice, things are not that simple. La Vie Éco notes that in the implementation of this decree, there are many complications. One of them is the classification, the media indicates. According to Abdellah El Fergui, president of the Moroccan Confederation of VSEs and SMEs, "one of the selection criteria for this classification is the payroll. This parameter automatically excludes small structures, including cooperatives and self-entrepreneurs."

Mbarek Moghli is the president of the Moroccan Association for Solidarity and Development (AMSED). According to him, one of the possible solutions is to go through "a stratification of public procurement," which will allow exclusively granting small orders to these categories of operators.

In short, to enjoy the promise made to them by the government, cooperatives and self-entrepreneurs will still have to wait. How much longer?