The demands of modern government mean that Whitehall cannot deliver good public services alone – it needs the support and expertise of the private and voluntary sectors. With more than £350bn spent every year with suppliers to deliver these critical services, how that money is spent rightly provokes questions about value for money.
The government’s new National Procurement Policy Statement, due out in the Spring, will provide a positive signal to both contracting authorities and suppliers on achieving greater value for money by delivering mission-based procurement. To truly realise those ambitions, we need to develop a new partnership based on collaboration, a greater focus on outcomes, and clarity on how suppliers of all types and sizes can help deliver the government’s wider policy objectives.
A new partnership
Today’s relationship between government and suppliers is often too focused on the process of procuring a service or managing a contract. While no doubt important, a sole focus on this approach can lead to misalignments in the actual desired outcomes and what really delivers value for money. For suppliers, it limits our ability to offer insights that could enhance service quality and deliver better value for money by using next technology and innovation.
Instead, we need to work together to build long-term relationships, with all stakeholders invested in regular open dialogue, sharing information and working together to build trust so together we can address the complex challenges we face. It is also important that these partnerships expand beyond our operational teams to include conversations about service design, so these challenges can be identified earlier. Our teams have significant experience but historically, have limited opportunity to provide our insight, which we believe can help deliver better public services at lower cost to taxpayers.
We know it will involve significant cultural change both from industry and government to build these relationships. This is not unique to the UK, as we see it in many countries, but the exciting thing for Serco’s 34,000 front-line colleagues is the government’s desire to work in partnership with businesses.
Delivering against outcomes not inputs
If we are to be successful in achieving ‘mission-based’ procurement, we need a clear, defined outcome that those involved can unite behind. We must think beyond the current approach centred on mandating the inputs, a focus on cost and delivery of key performance indicators rather than the outcomes for citizens.
Being less prescriptive on the inputs to a place where our expertise and experience are trusted to provide people with the services they need will enable more innovative solutions and, ultimately, better value for money. This shift will require suppliers to provide greater focus on performance and for government to evolve how it evaluates the proposals to deliver the intended outcome and in how it holds suppliers accountable.
Social value focused on the government’s missions
Public services generate greater social good beyond their core deliverables. Serco has long placed social value at the heart of our business, but to deliver greater benefit to the communities in which we work, the government’s approach to social value needs to focus on the missions and longer-term benefits.
A contract-specific approach to procuring social value does not always encourage long-term thinking or investment and can often feel tokenistic and subjective. The Social Value Model should be adapted to target the specific delivery of social value against the outcomes in the government’s missions, enabling contracting authorities to align the outcomes they are seeking and work with suppliers to leverage a more strategic approach to social impact.
We’re excited by the prospect of mission-based procurement. To be successful it requires commitment and leadership across government and industry – we are ready to play our part. We would like to see a Public Services Council that brings together suppliers from across the public, private and voluntary sectors to advise on delivering the opportunity mission-based procurement presents.
By fostering long-term partnerships and maintaining an open dialogue, mission-based procurement can transform public service delivery, tackle the complex challenges we face and be a driver for economic growth right across the country.
For more information about Serco visit Serco | UK Division