The government is believed to have frozen Building Schools for the Future Schemes not at preferred bidder stage and dumped plans for a new Procure 21+ health framework.
The news is a bitter blow to major contractors who enjoyed a steady stream of public work under framework deals during the Labour government.
But smaller companies are hoping a shake-up in procurement will give them a chance to bid for schemes as the focus in areas like education turns from large new-builds to smaller refurbishment schemes.
Firms working on existing frameworks work with a strict supply chain which has caused bitterness among smaller contractors who feel frozen-out by the system.
One specialist told the Enquirer: “I think this won’t be all bad for SMEs.
“At the moment there are large companies just handed projects by virtue of the fact they are on frameworks that are not open to smaller companies.
“These large companies continue to post increasing turnovers while the SMEs suffer – this will open up projects to a wider range of companies rather than a select few.”