The participation of SMEs in public procurement is a recurring theme in recent academic literature. However, little attention has been paid to its influence in cross-border procurement. To participate in this market, SMEs must overcome barriers that make the task difficult and minimise their chances of winning contracts. Within this context, dynamic capabilities in general, and networking ones in particular, are crucial to overcome barriers and boost performance. This article presents an abductive qualitative research study of multiple cases using CAQDAS to analyse which networking capabilities prepare SMEs for cross-border public procurement processes. The results show not only how these capabilities have enabled SMEs to perform well in this environment but also which barriers have helped them to overcome each phase of the procurement process. The article also provides recommendations for both SMEs that decide to enter this market and the administrations that wish to support them.

中小企业参与公共采购是近期学术文献中反复出现的主题。然而，其在跨境采购中的影响却很少受到关注。为了参与这个市场，中小企业必须克服使任务变得困难的障碍，并尽量减少他们赢得合同的机会。在这种情况下，一般的动态能力，特别是网络能力，对于克服障碍和提高性能至关重要。本文介绍了使用 CAQDAS 对多个案例进行的质性研究，以分析哪些网络能力为中小企业为跨境公共采购流程做好准备。结果不仅显示了这些能力如何使中小企业在这种环境中表现良好，而且还显示了哪些障碍帮助他们克服了采购过程的每个阶段。