A diverse group of academics and practitioners submitted a response today to the UK Government’s Green Paper on Transforming Public Procurement. The submission was prepared by members of the Oxford Procurement of Government Outcomes (POGO) Club. The response calls for more flexibility and longer-term contracts for social outcomes. Suggestions include a Social Outcomes Framework or Dynamic Purchasing System -- “like an umbrella contract set up at a central level” -- that would allow local authorities to more easily make call-off orders for procurements based on social outcomes. The response explains that outcomes-based contracts and orders would be for longer periods because outcomes take more time to happen and verify.
This suggestion was among many within the broad themes of Culture, Outcomes, Transparency, and Learning. The group’s response also describes a concern that the Green Paper is overly focused on the ‘transactional’ procurement of basic goods and services in a competitive market. Chaired by Oxford Law Professor Anne Davies and supported by GO Lab researchers Ruairi Macdonald and Leigh Crowley, the group is interested in ways of improving public procurement in order to achieve better social outcomes.
Read our blog explaining the comments here and the full text of the submission is available here.
The Oxford POGO Club is always welcoming new participants! Find our more here.