Community and Culture Minister the Hon. Wayne Furbert said yesterday.

A copy of the policy, sent out to all Government departments, was obtained yesterday by The Royal Gazette . It sets out "a consistent approach to purchasing across the whole of Government'', which takes effect on April 1.

"At present, the choice of supplier is generally at the discretion of the individual department and any purchasing policy that exists has been established only within that department,'' said the directive over the signature of Mr. Anthony Prentice of the Accountant General's office.

The directive requires: Goods and services with a value between $1,000 and $5,000 must be obtained on the basis of at least three quotations. "Responses need not be in writing, but detailed records shall be kept by the officer initiating the request.'' Goods and services worth more than $5,000 must be obtained on the basis of at least three written tenders.

While goods and services worth less than $1,000 may be obtained on the basis of a single quotation, "alternative prices should be sought whenever possible'', and "the same supplier should not be used repeatedly without good reason''.

The policy also says a closing date and time for submission of prices should be stated and "the lowest price should be accepted, all other things being equal''.

No tenderer should be able to alter a quote after acceptance, and "wherever possible, tenders for an annual supply should be sought to obtain quantity discounts''.

The approach was intended to assure fairness, value for money, open conduct of business, and "to give small local businesses every opportunity to participate'', the document said.

Mr. Furbert said the new policy, combined with a strengthening of the Small Business Development Corporation and changes to the payroll tax made in last month's Budget, will "assist small businesses tremendously''.

The capital of the Small Business Development Corporation had been nearly doubled to $1 million, meaning it could now guarantee loans up to $100,000, rather than only $50,000, he said. And since the SBDC was able to guarantee loans up to a value of four times of its capital base, the total amount available had been nearly doubled to $4 million.

At the end of the fiscal year 1994, the SBDC had outstanding loan guarantees totaling $1.9 million.

About 200 small businesses with payrolls below $200,000 are paying lower taxes as a result of rate changes that were part of the February 15 Budget, Mr.

Furbert said.

For example, a company with a payroll of $70,000 that paid $6,500 under the former system will now pay $4,550. And a company with a payroll of $150,000 that paid $15,300 under the former system will now pay $12,000.