Political innovation begins with procurement

No one who engages with government procurement comes away impressed with it. It’s a process that wastes £billions and rewards process over outcomes writes Dominic Campbell in the UK Telegraph. Procurement is currently about getting people at the top to define a problem that suppliers can solve.  Campbell claims politicians and management alike need to let go, to accept they may not have all the answers but by working with colleagues, suppliers and citizens they may be able to develop and deliver solutions to problems better than ever before.

In many ways the UK government’s procurement process encapsulates everything that must change in the age of New Politics he continues. Slow, burdensome, anti-innovative and risk averse, it rewards anyone who can parrot the language of the procurer. It rarely takes account of the wider policy objectives that underlie the whole exercise. It scores against lateral thinkers (often smaller, creative suppliers). It’s no wonder therefore procurement has been singled out on both sides of the Atlantic as a key signifier of change in government culture. Change procurement and you can change much of what is wrong in public service delivery.

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