APPENDIX 3: CALL FOR EVIDENCE
The House of Lords Science and Technology Select
Committee, under the chairmanship of Lord Krebs, is conducting
an inquiry into the Government's use of procurement as a tool
to stimulate innovation within industry. The inquiry will focus
in particular on the Department for Transport and its related
public bodies, as a working example of the current procurement
practices within departments. However relevant evidence is welcomed
on examples of procurement practices from other departments, and
on the overarching role of procurement as a tool to stimulate
innovation.
Scope
The inquiry seeks to investigate the extent to which
the current procurement practices and processes in place are effective
in encouraging innovation within industry and supporting the development
and diffusion of innovations. It will focus on:
1. The role of public procurement as a tool
for stimulating commercially valuable innovation within industry
2. The success or failure of current public
procurement processes, mechanisms and tools in stimulating innovation
within industry
3. Potential mechanisms and processes for stimulating
innovation in industry through public procurement, and any relevant
comparisons overseas
4. The impact of departmental and other government
structures, processes and cultures on the use of procurement as
an innovation tool, and cross-government and departmental efforts
to co-ordinate and reconcile conflicts between policy objectives.
The inquiry will not cover innovation in the
procurement process, such as e-procurement.
Questions:
The Committee invite submissions on the following
points:
Rationale
1. What is the rationale for using public procurement
as an innovation tool to stimulate innovation within the industries
on which government relies? And what evidence is there to support
its use as an innovation tool?
Co-ordination of innovation and procurement policies
2. To what extent are strategic departmental
and cross-government policy objectives meshed with procurement
and innovation policies and how might this be improved? What cross-government
mechanisms and co-ordination is in place to help to facilitate
this?
Mechanisms through which government procurement
can stimulate innovation
3. What public procurement mechanisms are currently
used to stimulate innovation within industry? How successful are
they? How is the success of such measures evaluated?
4. How might public procurement more effectively
stimulate innovation within industry?
5. What lessons can we learn from successes and
failures within the procurement processes of other countries to
stimulate innovation within industry?
The procurement process
6. What incentive do those working within public
sector organisations have to use procurement as an approach to
stimulating innovation?
7. To what extent are those responsible for public
procurement of research and development "intelligent customers"?
· Do they have the appropriate expertise
to identify innovative solutions to procurement needs?
· How well do they identify when innovation
could provide a solution to a procurement need?
· How effective is the identification of
and dialogue with appropriate potential suppliers?
8. What obstacles do those responsible for procurement
within public sector organisations face in encouraging innovation
through their procurement strategies? How might these be tackled?
9. What obstacles do potential suppliers of innovative
solutions face in responding to public procurement requirements?
How might these be tackled?
The Committee would also be interested to hear about
any other issues not already covered by this call for evidence
that are relevant to the scope of the inquiry.
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