Procurement teams are being challenged to innovate ahead of the introduction of new revelationary changes from a UK Procurement Bill.
Delegates at the Procurex Conference in Birmingham were told by former Conservative Member of the European Parliament Malcolm Harbour, that it’s high time for procurement to act before the expected green tick for the legislation next year.
“Don’t hold back on innovation because you’re waiting for the Cabinet Office to get this legislation through,” said Harbour quoted in Supply Management Daily.
Harbour said the UK economy could not afford to wait “to put a stop on innovative use of procurement.”
“We need new ideas; we need you out there cultivating suppliers and securing suppliers and knowledge.
“I absolutely don’t want to see a freeze going on in people wanting to advance procurement and try new ideas simply because they’re waiting for autumn 2024. This is a hell of a long way away. With all the challenges we face – from how to deliver net zero, to upgrading housing and AI – we can’t afford to hang about.”
The UK Government claims the bill will make it easier for small businesses to win more of the £300billion of goods, services and works the government buys each year.
The government believes the bill will help to slash costs and make it easier for businesses bidding for contracts, particularly smaller companies with less experience of procurement processes.
There are more than 350 different procurement regulations which the Procurement Bill will consolidate.
The Cabinet Office’s deputy director of procurement reform, Lindsay Maguire is reported as saying the reforms being developed would “streamline processes.”
But the Welsh government’s director of commercial and procurement, John Coyne, urged buyers to be patient.
“Procurements of the past will be consigned to the past, and innovation and flexibility will be the future. But, it will take considerable time for us to see the benefits on the ground,” he said.
