Dr Luke Butler and Professor Sue Arrowsmith were recently invited to a webinar with the National Audit Office (NAO) to present and discuss the work they have been doing on single source procurement processes for major contracts – or, more precisely, on procurement processes that do not involve an open competitive tender, which are sometimes single source awards but can also involve a flexible type of competition without a public solicitation. These processes have accounted for more than half of central government procurement in the early months of the COVID-19 pandemic because of the urgency involved but are often problematic because of the lack of transparency and competition. Some of these procurements, including for PPE and communications systems, have attracted controversy, with media allegations of cronyism, and some have been challenged in judicial review actions in the courts.
The NAO has already conducted general investigations into pandemic-related procurement in the first half of 2020, reporting in November 2020, and is working on models of good procurement processes. In the virtual meeting, held on 26 March 2020, Sue Arrowsmith presented a brief overview of the work in a book she is editing - along with Dr Butler and also Professor Anna La Chimia from Nottingham (as well as Professor Chris Yukins of George Washington University) - on procurement regulatory frameworks in the pandemic and also presented her thoughts on the Government’s proposals to improving the regulatory framework in this area in its recent Green Paper, Transforming Public Procurement, which she helped to shape as a member of the Government’s Procurement Transformation Advisory Panel. Luke Butler briefly presented thoughts on the development of a process for direct solicitations procurements. This was followed by a discussion on a variety of issues relating to the research and the work of the NAO.
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