The move is part of the government's pledge to provide easy access to all public sector contracts through a single, free portal by 2010.

Responding to the announcement, business minister Shriti Vadera said that new contracts were "essential" in helping companies return to growth following pressure in the economic downturn.

"We want to support small businesses by making it easier to access the thousands of government procurement opportunities that are directly relevant to them," said Vadera.

Paul Manning, account director at Printflow, said the decision was a step in the right direction and will be appreciated by SMEs within the print sector.

He added: "I'm more pleased to see that there is a plan for a single public tender portal planned for late 2010.

"Although, in my opinion, overdue, I welcome this as there are too many tender websites muddying what should be clear waters."

At the end of 2008, PrintWeek submitted a petition to the government that called for an end to registration charges on supply2.gov, in addition to calling for free training on how to tender.

The government responded by saying it "recognised the real concerns of SMEs when tendering for public sector contracts" and added a report commissioned in 2008 had addressed such concerns.

However, Manning added that regardless of the work being done to make tenders more accessible, companies shouldn't be fooled that it's a way they can battle the recession.

He said: "There will be many many more companies fighting for the work, the tenders take months or years from being published to being awarded and SMEs will still be battling against larger organisations certifications such as ISO 14001 and ISO 9001 which all cost money, time and resources that few can afford."