A TARGET to award small businesses 30 per cent of all public contracts for the 2012 Olympic Games could be jeopardised by controversial government proposals.

The Forum of Private Business (FPB) is concerned about plans forcing business-owners to report on gender and racial equality, while also offering trade union membership to staff, in order to be eligible to tender for work.

It fears that this could prevent some private firms from tendering for the Olympics, which will include sailing at Portland.

The FPB is calling on the government to use the 2012 Games as a springboard to improving the public procurement tendering process for small businesses.

FPB policy representative Matt Goodman said: "In the 2008 budget, the government said that it wants to encourage small firms to take up 30 per cent of public contracts, but then in the next breath it announced controversial proposals which would force companies into promoting trade union membership as a pre-condition of bidding.

"What is really needed is an improved framework and better support for small firms that do tender for public contracts.

"Currently, there are so many reasons small firms are discouraged from tendering."