7 Conclusion
120. The Cabinet Office, under the leadership
of Francis Maude, should be commended for seeking to tackle the
inefficiencies of government procurement and for making some significant
savings. There is widespread support for the direction of travel,
in particular: the consolidation of government spending on common
goods and services; more coordinated relationships with major
suppliers; the recruitment of highly capable leaders from the
private sector—such as the Chief Operating Officer, Stephen
Kelly; and the various initiatives to improve procurement and
commercial capability, not least the Major Projects Leadership
Academy.
121. However, three years into the reform programme,
there is still opposition to further reform within government
departments and doubts about the value for money offered by central
contracts; businesses report that UK government procurement remains
too often process driven and needlessly bureaucratic and there
is widespread concern that Government is still not doing enough
to use its procurement spending to achieve wider social and economic
benefits for the UK. The Cabinet Office must recognise the limitations
of its approach to achieving reforms so far—such as the
lack of a clear policy and plan for a reformed system of procurement
across government and the wider public sector—and actively
address them.
122. Unless the Cabinet Office shows strong leadership,
with the full support of the Prime Minister and the Cabinet, the
impetus for further reform and improvement to government procurement
will fail and the gains made so far will be eroded.
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