December 2022
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This in-person conference brought together key stakeholders and policymakers to discuss next steps for public procurement and assess the potential impact of the Procurement Bill as it progresses through Parliament.
Delegates discussed how to enable contracting authorities to evaluate and implement decision-making based on social value and public benefit, including how to accurately forecast and measure the impact of procurement awards.
Further sessions looked at competition and procurement processes, priorities for reducing bureaucracy, and ways for new framework models to support SME engagement.
It was also an opportunity to assess the future direction of procurement policy, and how reforms fit into wider national objectives, including levelling up and net-zero.
We expected discussion on the Public Accounts Committee’s recommendations and their concerns around PPE contracts during the pandemic, as well as opposition policy, including Labour’s national Procurement Plan, which focuses on insourcing, SME engagement, and raising transparency and standards.
Overall, areas for discussion included:
- the Procurement Bill: progress, issues, and implementation - the future of procurement policy under new governmental leadership
- new criteria: issues for assessing value for money - balancing cost with sustainability, social value, and wellbeing
- competition: growing opportunities for SME tendering - reducing barriers and bureaucracy - assessing new open frameworks - increasing transparency and public confidence
- improving processes: priorities for effective management and decision making in public procurement - priorities for digitisation and streamlining
- role in wider policy goals: sustainability and levelling up - improving supply chain resilience and security - supporting innovation, and the development and adoption of new technologies
- learning from the pandemic: procurement against the backdrop of national and international crises - carrying forward best practice for a more agile and responsive procurement framework
We are pleased to have been able to include keynote sessions with Ed Green, Deputy Director, Commercial Policy - International and Reform, Cabinet Office; Lindsay Maguire, Head, Engagement for Procurement Reform, Cabinet Office; and Dame Meg Hillier MP, Chair, Public Accounts Committee.
The conference was an opportunity for stakeholders to consider the issues alongside key policy officials who attended from BEIS; the Cabinet Office; CCS; DCMS; the DfT; GLD; HMLR; Home Office; NIEA; the UK IPO; The Scottish Government; and the Welsh Government.
