Policies and legal framework of involving small and medium enterprises in administrative contracts in Egypt: dynamics and influences

Abstract

This paper will present the concept of small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in Egyptian law and some other laws. It also presents the advantages and benefits of supporting SMEs to participate in public procurement contracts to reinforce many of the policies that the government seeks to implement such as limiting monopolistic practices, expanding the base of competition and limiting unemployment, raising the employment rate and achieving economic growth. The paper also expresses the challenges and barriers faced by SMEs to win a public procurement contract. Also, the paper provided a mechanism to overcome these challenges by using the descriptive approach, as well as the analytical approach, to find out the numbers of these enterprises in Egypt and the fields in which they operate, and the new law for public procurement, as well as the new law for SMEs.