Procurement in future

NHS and government procurement in future needs to be reassessed. Centralisation restricts the number of manufacturers and suppliers who can contribute and price takes precedence over keeping local suppliers in business.

Why the contribution is important

Future resilience in many areas needs addressing. It is unlikely that this will be the last pandemic or global crisis. We wouldnt have won the last war if everything from ships to food came from overseas.

by GJBB on May 08, 2020 at 01:33PM

Current Rating

Average rating: 4.9
Based on: 10 votes

Comments

  • Posted by JBAKER May 08, 2020 at 13:55

    Not only do we need to look at procurement we need to look at manufacturing too.

  • Posted by mnOg6512 May 08, 2020 at 17:16

    The number of existing manufacturers and laboratories who have stepped up to the plate, altering their processes at short notice to help this country must be recognised and new businesses created to ensure that wherever possible we prioritise U.K. manufacturers in supply chains of both public and private procurement. Price must no longer be the primary factor when awarding contracts. If contracts are awarded overseas there must be a license issued to show that the service is not available here.
    This will also benefit economy, job creation and provide real value instead of the virtual value of many of the financial services we seem to rely on for wealth now.

  • Posted by Bec May 09, 2020 at 13:37

    I understand why the procurement framework was put in place as fraud and nepotism was rife but the current system is borderline unworkable. The form just to apply to bid is ridiculous and some of the eligibility requirements of businesses bidding makes it hard for small businesses to apply.

    Yes there need to be checks and balances but the current system has created a situation where mainly large organisations are the only ones able to bid and they artificially inflate the price, costing the tax payer a lot of money. Surely introducing a system where departments can get 3 quotes and be bound to declare any conflicts of interest with regular audits would be a far more manageable system.

    This current crisis has highlighted how broken our current system is.

  • Posted by ajgraham59 May 09, 2020 at 14:33

    I would agree with the comments above having been involved in an SME and having to bid for contracts on the Government Portal with a 53 page documents to complete for a contract only worth a couple of Thousand pounds is counter productive. The comment above is correct only the large companies can bid properly for these contracts and then they subcontract to smaller companies like ours but because they have underbid to get the work we do not get paid the correct amount for the work done. These companies are based and run from abroad so that is where the profits go not to the local suppliers who pay their taxes and staff here.

    It is a circle you need chickens for school dinners you import from abroad at a cheaper price and the profit goes there. You buy from a Scottish producer at a higher price. He pays his staff here he has to employ more staff he pays his taxes here and all that money goes back into our economy and when there is a problem in the world with a virus we are then food secure as the chicken farm is here. Logical. We should be looking at all procurement in the same way.
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