WEDNESDAY'S Budget may have been the first delivered by Alistair Darling since taking over the Chancellor's brief from his boss, Gordon Brown, but there was a distinctly familiar ring to much of what he said.

A defence of the government's stewardship of the economy segued into a miscellany of measures intended to demonstrate ministers' continuing commitment to enterprise, which business groups said was short of reasons to be cheerful. About the only measure that seemed capable of delivering much help to small- and medium-sized firms in the short term was a pledge to ensure that smaller fry won 30% of the market to provide goods and services for government in the next five years.

As John Swinney, Finance Minister in the Scottish Government, made similarly encouraging noises earlier this month, SMEs in Scotland may hope that much more public sector work will come their way before long.

In this week's SME Focus, we hear from a Scottish pioneer who was one of the first to make sense of what could be one of the biggest markets of the future.

Name: Ron Burges.

Age: 60.

What is your business called? BiP Solutions.

Where is it based? Shawfield, just outside Glasgow.

What does it produce, what services does it offer? BiP provides a range of solutions aimed at facilitating effective and efficient procurement between the public and private sectors. We provide everything from contract intelligence information through to training, consultancy, software as a service propositions, supplier accreditation and the promotion and management of public procurement events.

Our services help to drive up competition for public sector contracts and drive down process costs for both government and business.

To whom does it sell? Public and private sector organisations, ranging from small firms to multinationals. A third of all FTSE-100 companies are BiP customers, as well as hundreds of public authorities including the Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform, the Scottish Government and the Ministry of Defence.

What is its turnover? Turnover in 2006/07 was £9.6m. We are on target this financial year to achieve around £12m.

How many employees? One hundred and seventy and growing.

Why did you take the plunge? I was involved in a contract cleaning business in the early 1980s and realised most of the contracts relevant to my business from the public sector were only advertised locally.

Finding public sector contracts outside Glasgow proved difficult, and I thought that if my business was struggling to do this, then others would as well.

This led to the idea of a directory of public sector contracts from across the UK, and I discovered there was nothing similar already in existence. I thought: why not me? Business Information Publications (BiP) was created, and Contrax Weekly (a weekly magazine listing UK contract opportunities) was published to meet that need.

What were you doing before you took the plunge? When I left school I went to one interview and failed to get the job. That made me determined that I would always work for myself.

I started a tyre change and repair business run out of a rented space at a garage, which grew into a full vehicle repair business with car sales.

The move into contract cleaning came about because I saw a laundrette for rent near to my home and thought I could run that as a turnkey operation. That grew into four laundry and dry-cleaning premises in Glasgow and Edinburgh with vans on the road collecting cleaning from more than 40 collection points.

How did you raise the start-up funding? I had just sold a business and used part of the proceeds from that to sustain BiP in its early days. I also raised funding through a regional assistance grant which was based on employing new people - £3000 per person at the time.

The grant was vital, it took BiP from the base-camp level to the next step up, and allowed us to employ an additional six staff. Grants are very important to small businesses, but they must be targeted and add genuine value.

What was your biggest break? In the early years, winning a contract from the Cabinet Office to produce a publication promoting market testing opportunities was a tremendous boost, since it was the first external recognition of BiP's expertise in the public procurement arena.

Probably the most important break was the emergence of electronic media during the late 1980s and 1990s. Desk-top publishing systems reduced our production costs, while the internet and e-mail transformed our services from being purely paper-based to electronic; with major benefits for our customers and our marketing initiatives.

Without doubt, data is BiP's greatest asset - we see this as the new steel from which we can build intelligence and delivery mechanisms.

BiP has published two million contract notices since 1998, and if you consider the combined value of those contracts, that is a huge amount of business that has been generated from the public sector.

Winning the AXA small to medium-sized business of the year at last year's National Business Awards for Scotland was a great independent recognition of BiP's market penetration and innovation.

What was your worst moment? In the beginning we grew quite quickly and this created pressure on cashflow. As a start-up this is when you most need a supportive bank; but unfortunately is also when the opposite can apply. Knowing your business has the potential to grow, but the cash isn't coming in quickly enough to sustain it, is a major worry. Fortunately, those days are behind us and we are a cash-rich business now.

What do you most enjoy about running the business? Diversity is the most enjoyable aspect of my role. Being able to influence change in different parts of the business and interact with people from a number of disciplines is satisfying.

The various aspects of BiP's business - from sales and marketing through to IT, customer support, media and back office functions - are under one roof, so I can engage with people from different backgrounds and with very different skills.

It's also satisfying to see my staff developing their skills and taking on new roles, as many have within the company.

What do you least enjoy? The ever-more bureaucratic employment regulations which stifle employment and growth and reduce wealth creation and innovation within our economy. It is like competing with America and Asia with one hand tied behind your back.

What is your biggest bugbear? The larger the company becomes, the longer it can take to make change. Like any entrepreneur, I am used to making decisions and seeing them implemented quickly. The larger you get the less this is possible, especially when most of your services are dependent on developing software solutions.

What are your ambitions for the firm? Growth. BiP has a duty to not only its current employees, but also the community in which it operates, to continually strive for growth and to increase profitability. Generating profit allows us to invest back into the community, giving others the opportunity of employment with BiP and the chance to develop their skills.

What are your five top priorities? Expansion through acquisition. Product development - with a real focus on creating revenue growth by providing innovation. Customer satisfaction - increasing retention levels and yield per customer can only be achieved if we satisfy their needs and deliver services beyond their expectations. Improving the skills of our employees, by investing in their training and development. Developing new markets and revenue streams.

What single thing would most help? Expansion of the labour market would be a good start. It is becoming harder to find suitable candidates for the many disciplines BiP requires, and I am not just talking about highly-skilled people. It's a poor reflection of our society that we struggle to find suitable candidates for certain roles locally, and yet within Glasgow there are hotspots of very high unemployment. Without recruiting from overseas we would not have been able to sustain the growth of the company.

A contributing factor is that the public sector in Scotland is a dominant employer which soaks up a large part of the available employee pool and offers remuneration and incentive packages which are often not viable for SMEs. This stifles our ability to grow and create wealth.

What could the Westminster and/or the Scottish governments do that would most help? They could help to address the above problem by getting those who feel disenfranchised and unemployable stimulated and into the labour market, with support for training and development.

Another area is to further encourage private sector involvement in the delivery of public services. One of the greatest growth areas in the UK economy has been the creation of a public sector services industry as a result of increased outsourcing by government. This has created a world-leading expertise in British companies, which when exported makes a positive contribution to the UK economy.

For this to happen government needs to realise that it should not be in the role of delivering services, but in identifying requirements, promoting competition and ensuring quality of delivery.

What was the most valuable lesson you learned? Question everything. And then question it again. And trust your instincts.

How do you relax? Playing golf badly, watching football, also film and listening to music - mainly soul music. I had one of my all time greats, Candi Staton, play at my 60th birthday party - that was a real treat. But most importantly spending time with family and friends - irreplaceable.