UK Procurement
The UK Procurement Unit (lead by Dr. Luke Butler) focuses on all aspects of regulation (hard law and policy) and practice relating to the procurement and management of government contracts in England, Wales, Northern Ireland and Scotland. The aim is to understand the development of UK government contract regulation and practice in its historical social, economic and political contexts, how government contracting is regulated and practised at present and how it may be in future. There are several objectives in support of this aim, namely:
- To examine domestic regulation and practices as they apply internally within the UK collectively, within each nation of the UK, and within each region within each nation e.g. through UK-wide public contracts regulations and central government policies, national regulation and policies within the devolved administrations, and local authority regulations and practices
- To examine how the UK regulates and practises relations with other countries e.g. through international trade agreements (such as the EU and WTO)
- To explore all research methods, methodologies and interdisciplinarity which could better inform our understanding of UK government contracting regulation and practice.
Academic staff are currently involved in a number of ongoing research projects and acting in an advisory capacity. Recent examples include:
- Expert advice to government departments and industry on post-Brexit UK public procurement regulation
- Externally funded research on the impact of devolution in the context of public procurement
- Luke Butler, British Academy/Leverhulme small research grant: Transforming Public Procurement after Brexit: Harnessing the Power of the Devolved Administrations)
- Externally funded research on public procurement undertaken during the COVID-19 pandemic in the UK
- Luke Butler, Sue Arrowsmith, Annamaria La Chimia, AHRC grant: An Urgent Review of Single Source Procurement during the Pandemic: Recommendations for Best Practice and Reform)
- Luke Butler, British In Vitro Diagnostics Association grant: UK Diagnostic Test Procurement and Approvals in the COVID-19 Pandemic: Lessons Learned and Recommendations
- Research on the UK-EU Trade Cooperation Agreement (Annamaria La Chimia)
For further information, please contact Dr Luke Butler.