Mark Robinson is group chief executive at public sector procurement specialist Scape
The Queen’s Speech at the state opening of parliament last month offered a quick reference guide to the government’s current priorities.
No one will have been surprised to hear our head of state read out that her government’s priority is “to deliver a national recovery from the pandemic that makes the United Kingdom stronger, healthier and more prosperous than before”. But other points raised were highly pertinent to leaders in the construction industry.
Commitments were made, effectively in bold and underlined, to levelling-up, improving public services, job creation, investing in infrastructure, planning reform to support home ownership, and an even greater focus on housebuilding. And all whilst supporting the UK’s aim of achieving net-zero carbon emissions by 2050.
Construction’s role
While much of our industry’s immediate attention was focused on planning reform, buried among the plethora of policy ambitions was a promise to simplify public sector procurement through a new National Procurement Policy Statement. In my view, this first ever ‘Procurement Bill’, while understated, will act as a facilitator for these desired outcomes and prove hugely important to ensuring the long-term future of the industry. The public sector, after all, is the construction sector’s biggest client.
“It is encouraging to see such unity between the demands of the community and the trajectory of government policy”
The procurement policy is not entirely new. Neither is it designed explicitly to benefit construction. It has been in development since it became clear that the UK would depart from the EU and has become more relevant as the awarding of government contracts – both centrally and locally – has been subject to increased scrutiny in recent months. Functionally, it will streamline and replace a wide range of EU directives that previously shaped how taxpayers’ money was used. But more than this, it has the potential to enshrine in law best-practice principles across public procurement – including for construction projects.
The opportunities, including more effective procurement processes in terms of both time and cost, are outlined in the government’s green paper, Transforming public sector procurement. We, alongside other public sector and industry stakeholders, provided guidance for this document earlier this year. Encouragingly, the approach seeks to discourage lowest-cost approaches, putting greater emphasis on longer-term planning and value-focused decision-making that will create enhanced social value and sustainable outcomes. This is the very essence of ‘building back better’.
In a recent study we conducted in partnership with research firm YouGov, social value and sustainability were outcomes that communities across the UK wanted to see from construction projects, alongside a clear enthusiasm for job creation. It is encouraging to see such unity between the demands of the community and the trajectory of government policy.
As we await the outcome of the green paper consultation, and the publication of the wide-reaching National Procurement Policy Statement, it’s up to our public sector colleagues and their service partners to continue pursuing their own definition of ‘best-in-class’ – and public sector frameworks have played an integral role in defining what good looks like already. Public spending in construction has been central to the recovery so far, and if we are going to use the pandemic as a catalyst for creating stronger, more resilient communities post-COVID, this surely must continue.
Shaped by the playbook
From a construction industry perspective, the Procurement Bill is likely to be informed and shaped by the government’s Construction Playbook which, through its 14 key policies, outlines its expectations of how contracting authorities and suppliers, including the supply chain, should work together to create better outcomes.
So far, many councils and local authorities haven’t been able to engage with it extensively due to COVID pressures and the fact that it is not mandated at a local government level. However, this is changing and it will be a core focus in the future – particularly when its accompanying public sector framework review, led by professor David Mosey of King’s College London, publishes its recommendations.
“If more projects can adopt best-practice behaviours and processes before they are mandated, there is no reason why we cannot accelerate the recovery even further”
The gauntlet is being laid down by government, and it is in our interests to pick it up. The national recovery needs to be everyone’s priority this summer, and construction and the public sector will continue to play a critical role in this. In fact, we are seeing some significant innovation from our delivery partners, using technology, creativity and a real commitment to improve the design, delivery and whole life performance of our national infrastructure.
The key is to take these pockets of innovation and turn them into business as usual. If more projects can adopt best-practice behaviours and processes before they are mandated, there is no reason why we cannot accelerate the recovery even further – ensuring, as the Queen has set out, that the UK can become “stronger, healthier and more prosperous than before”.
