Businesses outside of London have been reassured they won’t be discriminated against when competing for contracts for the 2012 Olympic Games.

Ian Barlow, the chairman of Olympics-focused organisation London Business Network, has told the CBI Business Summit that 46 per cent of the Games contracts awarded so far have been given to companies based outside of the capital. Barlow noted that there is a big emphasis on bringing Olympic-related benefits to other UK communities, not just London.

Approximately 6,500 businesses have registered their interest in tendering on a procurement website set up for the Games but Barlow said at least double that number is needed. Some 15,000 Olympic contracts will be awarded through the CompeteFor site.

Two-thousand contracts have already been awarded including for the basketball and handball sites, landscaping and facilities management. Ninety-eight per cent have been won by UK firms and 70 per cent of those were small- and medium-sized businesses.

Jeff Moore is the chief executive of the East Midlands Development Agency. He said 27 companies across the East Midlands have already done business directly with the Olympic Development Authority. One of these companies is Golder Associates in Nottinghamshire, which has completed contaminated land assessments for potential Olympic sites.

Moore is confident that money will flow out of London to the rest of the UK as a result of the city hosting the 2012 Games. He cited the Sydney Olympics where other states in Australia, not just New South Wales, benefited.

“It’s never too soon to register your business with CompeteFor,” he added.

The CBI Business Summit was organised by Caspian Publishing.

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Related tags: olympic games, london, 2012, olympics, ian barlow, jeff moore, east midlands development agency, london business network, sme, connectfor, procurement, olympic contracts, golder associates,