Oxford Procurement of Government Outcomes Club (Oxford POGO Club)

Oversight in the UK?! Lessons for avoiding abuse and corruption in government contracting

Date: 26 November

Time: 4-5pm (GMT)

Session overview

In this November session of the Oxford Procurement of Government Outcomes Club (Oxford POGO Club), we considered outsourcing oversight lessons relevant to the new Labour government, to contracting authorities across the UK, and beyond. This session is timely as a new Procurement Review Unit is being formed under the Procurement Act 2023, which 'goes live' in February 2025.

Chaired by Professor Anne Davies, our panellists included:

• Sir Gary Hickinbottom chair of a recent JUSTICE report on outsourcing.
• Kate Eves OBE chair of a public inquiry into mistreatment of individuals detained at Brook House Immigration Removal Centre.
• Daniel Bruce Chief Executive of Transparency International UK (TI-UK) which has recently released a report on COVID-19 contracts.

We also invited comments from:

• Sally Morshead, lead solicitor at housing charity Shelter.
• Andy Door, Head of Procurement, Scottish Prison Service.
• Michael Hyatt, Professional Practice Lead, Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman.

Thanks to Philip Armitage for his critical help in organising this session. 

Deep Dive 1.6 Revolutionary, responsible, and responsive relationalism in public procurement

Thursday 5 September, 2-3:30pm (BST)

This session, held at SOC24, delved into the public procurement professional's role in relational public contracting for innovation, sustainability and VCSEs. By exploring the intricate relationship between procurement practices and relational contracting, we highlighted how professionals might drive social value through collaborative and responsible partnerships.

Our panel

• Dr Ruairi Macdonald (Faculty of Law, University of Oxford) (Chair)
• Prof Michal Plaček (Charles University)
• Dr Benjamin M. Brunjes (University of Washington)
• Professor Carolyn Heinrich (Vanderbilt University)
• Professor Jane Lynch (Cardiff University)
• Dr Carol Cravero (French Development Agency Group)
• Kate Gough (Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer)
• Saema Jaffer (Cabinet Office)

Find a recording of the session here.

How will we compare and improve green public procurement and Carbon Net Zero policy implementation at different levels of government around the world?

Date: 25 June

Time: 4-5pm (BST)

This special hybrid session of the Oxford Pogo Club examined opportunities and challenges to Green Public Procurement across levels of government and around the world. The session featured insights from a diverse group of academics and practitioners who came together for the first SPARKS Net Zero Symposium. Our speakers shared their thoughts on whether or how we might be able to observe, compare, and share knowledge about Net Zero policy implementation through government contracting around the world and at different levels of government.

Invited discussants included:

• Anne Davies (Chair)
• Andre Carlos Busanelli de Aquino (Brazil) 
• Andy Bogie (Ireland) 
• Fabiola Isabel Schneider (Ireland)
• Italo Manuel Casaccia Torres (Paraguay) 
• Jon Emmett (UK) 
• Nicolas Penagos (OECD)
• Oscar Hernandez (OCP)
• Saul Alexander Roux (South Africa)
• Sope Williams (South Africa)
• Tom Hale (UK) 
• Vera Monteiro (Brazil)

Can we meet those great green expectations? Capacity measures for green public procurement

Date: 28 May

Time: 4-5pm (BST)

Session overview

Many national and subnational governments have declared climate emergencies and promise to leverage their contract spend to achieve Net Zero targets – but whose job is this to implement? In this session the Oxford POGO Club looked at capacity and staffing issues related to Green Public Procurement, including contract management. We had an exceptional panel discussing this issue around world at different levels of government. The discussion addressed potential trade-offs, levels of engagement, and training within the procurement workforce. We also considered various measures of capacity, how to compare capacity across different contracting agencies, and how changes in capacity might be observed over time. 

Our panel:

• Anne Davies, University of Oxford, UK (Chair)
• Lachezar (Lucky) Anguelov,  The Evergreen State College, US
• Allison Anthony, African Procurement Law Unit, SA
• Lena Brogaard, Roskilde University, DK
• Sergio Lazzarini, Western University, CA
• Joyce Liddle, Northumbria University, UK
• Michal Plaček, Charles University, CZ
• Lisa Vanden Eynden, OECD 

Helpful background resources:

Stewardship and administrative capacity in green public procurement in the Czech Republic: evidence from a large-N survey

Public procurement failure: The role of transaction costs and government capacity in procurement cancellations

Public Capacity, Plural Forms Of Collaboration, And the Performance Of Public Initiatives: A configurational Approach

This session was held on 30 April 2024

Green what, how or who? Can we compare green public procurement pursued through requirements, procedures, qualifications and other means?

In this session the Oxford POGO Club took an international comparative look at the integration of social and environmental goals into public procurement, including contract management. We considered mechanisms of green public procurement in the United Kingdom, European Union member states, and South Africa. Emerging mechanisms include deciding what to buy, trying to change how procurements are run with new evaluation criteria, and/or focusing on who to buy from based on contractor qualifications, efforts to shape supply chains, and/or exclude bad actors. Our panel compared different approaches in their respective jurisdictions and comment on the opportunities and challenges associated with different mechanisms of green public procurement.

Our panel consisted of:

• Anne Davies, University of Oxford, UK (Chair)
• Abby Semple, Public Procurement Analysis, Ireland / EU
• Christopher Yukins, George Washington University, USA
• Geo Quinot, Stellenbosch University, South Africa

Helpful background resources including:

• Joint U.S.-EU Catalogue of Best Practices on Green Public Procurement
• A Transatlantic Analysis of EU and U.S. Strategies In “Green Procurement”

This session was held on 28 November 2023

Session overview

This session considered the new Procurement Act’s timeline, opportunities, and potential challenges around implementation. 

Our chair, Professor Anne Davies, was joined by:

• Michael Bowsher KC, Monckton Chambers and Kings College London
• Kate Gough, Freshfields
• Gavin Hayman, Open Contracting Partnership
• Darren Knowd, Durham County Council
• Lindsay Maguire, UK Government Cabinet Office

The Procurement Act 2023 is available online here. The UK government's transparency ambition' is here and "innovation ambition' is here.  Recall that Oxford POGO Club members submitted this response to the green paper and this response on the draft regulations.

There were two procurement-related sessions on Thursday 14 September at the GO Lab's Social Outcomes Conference (SOC23).

At 11:45, Professor Anne Davies chaired, Deep Dive 1.2 Procuring Outcomes - Still Knotty? At 14:15 Professor Jane Lynch chaired, Deep Dive 1.5 The Greatest Goals - procuring sustainability at the edge of our ability?

The recordings of these sessions can be found here.

Be sure to check out the other recordings from day 1 and day 2 as many other sessions will be interesting to Oxford POGO Club participants.

This session was held on 30 May, 2023.

How do you increase participation and inclusion in public procurement? In this session, we will explore initiatives to increase citizen participation and include Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs), women-owned businesses, and minority groups in government contracting. We will hear from a panel of experts about initiatives around the world.

• Dr. Marie Julie Chenard, the UK's Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) Head of Social Value, will talk about the DCMS Voluntary Community Social Enterprise (VCSE) Contract Readiness Programme.
• Camila Salazar from the Open Contracting Partnership (OCP) summarise insights from their report, Inclusive and effective public procurement: Findings and lessons from research in 12 countries.
• Issel Masses, Founder and Executive Director of Sembrando Sentido, which promotes transparency, accountability, and citizen participation in Puerto Rico. Issel contributed to the OCP report.
• Mary Mitchell from Scotland Excel will talk about her experience working with a Scottish local government to develop a Community Wishlist.
• Dr Katherine Sugar from the Universities of Oxford and Edinburgh will talk about her research into SMEs, public procurement, and Net Zero targets.

This session was held on Tue 25 April.

Session Overview

At this session, the Oxford POGO Club considered public procurement capacity development around the world. We expect great things from procurement and contract management professionals -- how can we strengthen and develop public procurement as a profession around the world?

• The OECD's Masayuki Omote will present insights from their January 2023 report, Professionalising the public procurement workforce.
• The Scottish Government's Nikki Archer FCIPS will discuss the Scottish Public Procurement Professionalisation Strategy and the Procurement People of Tomorrow (PPoT) Journey.
• George Washington University Professor Christopher Yukins will discuss the US federal government's approach to building capacity in the acquisition workforce.

Session Overview

At this session Oxford POGO Club considered the Prime Minister’s Council for Science and Technology's letter to the Prime Minister on delivering national priorities through public procurement.

Agenda

• Opening by Chair: Anne Davies, Professor of Law and Policy, Law Faculty, University of Oxford
• Topic Introduction by Co-Chair: Malcolm Harbour CBE
• Panel presentations:
  1. Paul Stein CBE, Rolls-Royce SMR Limited & Prime Minister’s Council for Science and Technology
  2. Ian Brotherston, Head of Government Levers at Innovate UK
  3. Elvira Uyarra, Professor of Innovation Studies and Executive Director of the Manchester Institute of Innovation Research University of Manchester
  4. Simon Collinson, Professor and Deputy Pro-Vice-Chancellor (DPVC) leading on Regional Engagement, University of Birmingham

• Audience questions & comments from attendees
• Panel members' rapid responses and reflections
• Reflections by Co-Chair
• Close of the session by Chair

Session overview

Oxford POGO Club explored new efforts to protect human rights and reduce negative environmental impacts in the supply chains of goods, works, and services procured by governments. Promises, opportunities, limitations, and challenges were discussed.

Agenda

• Opening by Chair: Anne Davies, Professor of Law and Policy, Law Faculty, University of Oxford
• Topic Introduction by Co-Chair: Andrea McLean, Oxford GO Lab Fellow of Practice and Social Value Adviser, Northern Ireland Strategic Investment Board
• Panel presentations: 
  1. Lena Diesing, OECD Centre for Responsible Business Conduct
  2. Laura Treviño Lozano, Sapiens Network and the University of Greenwich, and Ezgi Uysal, University of Turin
  3. Peter Pawlicki, Electronics Watch 

• Questions
• Panel members' rapid responses and reflections and summary by Co-Chair
• Notes and close of the formal session by Chair

Session overview

In this online Oxford POGO Club session we considered how public Infrastructure projects may contribute to social, environmental, and economic goals. The panel had a practical focus. As always, academic and practical perspectives were brought to the discussion. The meeting was held on 25th of October 2022. Our expert panel was:

• Dr. Dejan Makovsek from the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) Infrastructure and Public Procurement Division will discuss the OECD's Support Tool for Effective Procurement Strategy (STEPS) methodology. 
• Dr. Eime Tobari is a social value strategist in real estate and urban planning who will talk about emerging approaches related to place-based wellbeing, equity, social cohesion, and cultural identity. Dr Tobari will offer reflections from her report, Zooming in on the S in ESG, related to the real estate market.
• Brendan Gallagher from the Northern Ireland Strategic Investment Board (SIB) will talk about helping public authorities to engage local voluntary, community, and social enterprises (VCSEs) in construction projects, including through Social Value methods.
• Erik Bichard, Director and co-founder of RealWorth, will explain his focus on people in Social Return on Investment calculations.

Agenda

1. Opening by Chair: Anne Davies, Professor of Law and Policy, Law Faculty, University of Oxford
2. Panel presentations:
   1. Dr. Dejan Makovsek, Development (OECD) Infrastructure and Public Procurement Division.
   2. Dr. Eime Tobari, a social value strategist.
   3. Brendan Gallagher, Northern Ireland Strategic Investment Board (SIB)
   4. Erik Bichard, RealWorth
3. Questions & comments from attendees.
4. Panel members' rapid responses & reflections
5. Close by Chair

Session overview

At the Oxford POGO Club we care about social outcomes. We talk about ways to achieve better outcome in contracts public services and/or by including wider economic, social, or environmental goals in public contracts more broadly. What does this mean for the people involved in procurement and contract management? Some of us argue that the procurement professional's role should be more strategic than administrative and/or more about finding solutions through engagement with public and private stakeholders long before and long after contract award. This session was an opportunity to dig into these issues and learn more about different perspectives on the role of procurement teams and their professonialisation around the world. The meeting was held on 28th of June 2022.

Agenda

4:00 - 4:05 Opening by Chair: Anne Davies, Professor of Law and Policy, Law Faculty, University of Oxford



4:05 - 4:40 Panel presentations (Panel had 5-7 minutes each)

• Nicolas Penagos, Head of Methodology for Assessing Procurement Systems (MAPS) Secretariat, OECD
• Lucy (Stephenson) Sydney, Head of Strategic Relationships, Procurement Reform at [UK] Cabinet Office
• Joyce Liddle, Professor of Public Leadership / Enterprise, Northumbria University
• Steve Schooner, Nash & Cibinic Professor of Government Procurement Law, The George Washington University Law School
• Tim Cummins, President, World Commerce and Contracting & Professor, University of Leeds School of Law

4:40ish - 4:48 Questions or comments from attendees.

4:48 - 4:58 Panel members' rapid responses or reflections (panelists had up to 2 minutes each)

4:58 - 5:00 Close by Chair

Note: The Social Outcomes Conference 2022 is 8 - 9 of September and includes a procurement and social value theme. The program is now online and registration is now open for online or in person participation.

Background resources

• OECD MAPS Professionalisation Module: https://www.mapsinitiative.org/methodology/supplementary-modules/professionalisation/

Session overview

On 31 May, 2022, at 4pm (UK), the Oxford Procurement of Government Outcomes Club (Oxford POGO Club) will consider the UK government’s new [Public] Procurement Bill and whether it looks likely to deliver promised transformations. The Oxford POGO Club session will be chaired by Professor Anne Davies, co-chaired by Michael BowsherQC and will include an expert panel. This is an online event and all are welcome.  

The Procurement Bill recently landed in Parliament – the first reading, a formality, took place in the House of Lords on 11 May. The second reading, alongwith debate, is scheduled for 25 May. This bill follows a consultation process titled, ‘Transforming Public Procurement’ and the launch of a National Procurement Policy Statement.

The recent Queen’s Speech, delivered to Parliament by the Prince of Wales on 10 May 2022, promised that, ‘Public sector procurement will be simplified to provide new opportunities for small businesses.’ The Prime Minister’s introduction to the speech also promised, ‘Our public procurement regime will be made more simple, transparent and accessible to better meet the country’s needs. This will bring a huge boost to businesses and voluntary, charitable and social enterprises, who will be able to compete for public contracts.’ 

The Cabinet Office’s notes accompanying the Procurement Bill explains, ‘The purpose of the Procurement Bill is to reform the United Kingdom’s public procurement regime following its exit from the European Union (EU), to create a simpler and more transparent system not based on transposed EU Directives.’

Expert Panel

• Julian Blake, Partner, Stone King
• Kate Gough (née Creelman), Partner, Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer
• Malcolm Harbour CBE, Former MEP and Associate, Connected Places Catapult
• Kieran McGaughey, Director & National Lead for Procurement Law, Lawyers in Local Government
• Caroline Nicholas, Senior Legal Officer, International Trade Law Division, United Nations Commission on International Trade Law
• Kristen Robinson, Head of Advocacy, Open Contracting Partnership
• Albert Sanchez Graells, Professor of Economic Law, University of Bristol Law School

See panel member (speaker) bios here.

Agenda

• Welcome, from Anne and Michael
• Part 1. Expert Panel Comments ( < 35 minutes)
• Part 2. Collecting Audience Questions ( ≈ 5 minutes)
• Part 3. Panel Rapid Responses To Selected Questions or Comments (< 15 minutes)
• Close by Michael and Anne

Background resources

• Procurement Bill Second Reading and Debate held on 25 May, 2022, Video and Transcript
• Procurement Bill as introduced on 11 May, 2022, Procurement Bill (2022) House of Lords Bill 4. 
• UK Government (May 2022), Procurement Bill Explanatory Notes 
• UK Government (December 2021), Transforming Public Procurement - Government response to consultation
• UK Government (June 2021), National Procurement Policy Statement
  
• Local Government Association (2022), [Briefing with comments re] Procurement Bill, Second Reading, House of Lords, 23 May 2022
• Catapult Connected Places (2022), Procurement Bill 2022 - Initial Assessment
• UK AntiCorruption Coalition (2022), Our ten point improvement plan for the 2022 UK Procurement Bill
• Albert Sanchez-Graells (2022), Initial comments on the UK’s Procurement Bill: A lukewarm assessment
• King’s College, London / GW Law Symposium: Anti-Corruption and the New UK Procurement Rules
  
• Oxford POGO Club (2021), Response to Green Paper on Transforming Public Procurement
• Open Contracting Partnership (2021), Response to Cabinet Office Dec 2020 Green Paper on Transforming Public Procurement
• Lawyers in Local Government (2021), Response to Green Paper on Transforming Public Procurement
• Anne Davies and Ruairi Macdonald (2021), blog, Transforming public procurement
• Open Contracting Partnership (2021), blog, Progress on UK procurement reform: OCP’s quick take on Cabinet Office’s consultation response
• Kieran McGaughey (2021), blog, Transformation? Or transparency gone too far?

Session overview

Engaging voluntary, community, and social enterprise (VCSE) organisations and small businesses in public procurement — an international comparative discussion. Why? Why not? How? How not? Is it working? Chaired by Oxford Professor Anne Davies and Crown VCSE Representative, Claire Dove, this online session included insights from a Tussel report on UK VCSEs in Public Procurement and a brisk tour around the world to hear from experts about how different governments engage with VCSEs and small businesses. This was followed by responses and audience Q&A.

Background resources

• Tussell commissioned by [UK] Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport and Cabinet Office (2022), UK Public Procurement through VCSEs, 2016-2020
• [UK] Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport and Cabinet Office (2021), VCSEs: A guide to working with government (Guide for VCSE organisations on how to bid and win contracts with government)
• Buying for Social Impact (2020) Reports on Social Enterprises and Public Procurement in EU Countries
• European Commission (2021) Analysis of SMEs ' needs in public procurement
• European Committee of the Regions (2019) Implementation Report: First Consultation on Public Procurement
• UK government’s response to the Transforming Public Procurement law reform consultation (2021)

Session Overview

Governments are increasingly trying to use public contracts to pursue economic, social, and environmental goals beyond the core goods, works or services being procured. These goals may include employment opportunities, fair labour conditions, environmental targets or working with voluntary, community, or social enterprise (VCSE) organisations. This strategic use of public procurement is called different things around the world, including buying social, social clauses, community wealth building, broader outcomes, and social value. In this Oxford POGO Club session, an expert panel compares these initiatives in various nations’ procurement policies. We discuss whether these procurement initiatives are linked to wider outcomes frameworks. We also discussed different approaches to capacity development of public bodies to help implement these policies. Practical problems with implementation will be highlighted.

Agenda

16:00-16:05. Welcome by Chair Professor Anne Davies, University of Oxford

16:05-16:55. Embedding broader economic, social and environmental well-being goals into government contracts — how should priorities be set and supported in public authorities’ procurements?

16:05-16:10. Introduction to guest co-chair and context setting by Andrea MacLean, Social Value Advisor, The Strategic Investment Board, Northern Ireland (🐤 @contactSIBNI)

Background Resources

UK Central Government (England and Wales)

• Public Services (Social Value) Act 2012
• Cabinet Office (2020), Procurement Policy Note 06/20 – taking account of social value in the award of central government contracts

Northern Ireland

• Department of Finance, Northern Ireland (2021). Public Procurement Note 01/21 Scoring Social Value
• https://www.buysocialni.org

Wales

• Welsh Procurement Policy Note WPPN 01/20: Social value clauses/community benefits through public procurement

Scotland

• Cabinet Secretary for Finance and the Economy, Scotland, Sustainable Procurement Duty
• Scotland. National Performance Framework

Australia

• NSW Government Procurement Policy 2021
• NSW Government Aboriginal Enterprise Procurement Policy 2021
• NSW Government Small and Medium Enterprise and Regional Procurement Policy 2021

Prompt for Presentations and Discussion:

• How do governments evaluate the effectiveness of the social value outcomes delivered in achieving the broader social, economic and environmental priorities?
• How far can contracting authorities go in terms of setting local objectives to be delivered through social value with the need to be compliant with procurement rules and not disadvantage non local bidders?
• Where does responsibility for social value best sit? Is this fundamentally a procurement priority or do we need to build capacity across the public sector and supplier base? How do we achieve this?
• Is it helpful to have outcomes or performance frameworks that are not driven by procurement, but into which procurement plans can fit?

16:10-16:50. Presentation and Discussion led by Andrea MacLean, Social Value Advisor, The Strategic Investment Board, Northern Ireland

Discussion Panel

• Josephine Mitchell, Scottish Government
• Richard Dooner (🐤 @DoonerRichard), Programme Manager, Welsh Local Government Association
• Lisa Beers, Senior Social Value Advisor, The Strategic Investment Board, Northern Ireland
• Nandita Das (🐤 @NSWDPE), Senior Policy Officer, Department of Planning and Environment, New South Wales Government, Australia

Response Panel

• Julian Blake (🐤 @Julian_A_Blake, @StoneKingLLP), Partner, Stone King
• Clare FitzGerald, Lecturer in Management & Organisation, Kings College London
• Ruairi MacDonald, Research Associate, Government Outcomes Lab, University of Oxford

16:35-16:50. Q&A/Open Group Discussion

17:00. Meeting closed by Chair

Session overview

In this month's Oxford POGO Call we revisited public procurement transformation initiatives. We discussed what we learnt from the UK Government's response to the consultation on the ‘Green Paper: Transforming public procurement’, and explore other international reform efforts.

Background Resources

• Cabinet Office (2021), Green Paper: Transforming public procurement
• Oxford POGO Club (2021), Response to Green Paper on Transforming Public Procurement
• Open Contracting Partnership (2021), Response to Cabinet Office Dec 2020 Green Paper on Transforming Public Procurement
• Lawyers in Local Government (2021), Response to Green Paper on Transforming Public Procurement
• Anne Davies and Ruairi Macdonald (2021), blog, Transforming public procurement
• Cabinet Office (2021), Transforming Public Procurement - Government response to consultation
• Open Contracting Partnership (2021), blog, Progress on UK procurement reform: OCP’s quick take on Cabinet Office’s consultation response
• Kieran McGaughey (2021), blog, Transformation? Or transparency gone too far?

Agenda

16:00-16:05        Welcome by Chair Professor Anne Davies, University of Oxford

16:05-16:50        Transforming public procurement? What we learnt from the UK Government's response to the consultation on the ‘Green Paper: Transforming public procurement’

16:05-16:10        Context Setting Professor Anne Davies, University of Oxford

Reflections on the Oxford POGO Club submission to the Green Paper consultation, what we saw as the strengths and weaknesses?

• Introduction to guest co-chair Michael Bowsher QC, Barrister, Visiting Professor, Monckton Chambers & Kings College London

Prompt for Presentations and Discussion:

• How has the government’s thinking moved on in response to the consultation exercise?
• What are the strengths and weaknesses of the proposals now being pursued?
• Insights from international reform initiatives.

16:10-16:50        Presentation and Discussion led by Michael Bowsher QC, Barrister, Visiting Professor, Monckton Chambers & Kings College London

Discussion Panel

• Kieran McGaughey, (🐤@KieranMcG_),Solicitor (Commercial Team), Newcastle City Council
• Gavin Hayman (🐤 @GavinHayman_GW, @opencontracting), Executive Director, Open Contracting Partnership
• Julian Blake (🐤 @Julian_A_Blake, @StoneKingLLP), Partner, Stone King
• Basma Abdul Khalek, (🐤 @BasmaAbdulkhale), Economist, Institut des Finances Basil Fuleihan, Lebanon
• Caroline Nicholas, Senior Legal Officer, International Trade Law Division, United Nations Commission on International Trade Law

This month’s Oxford POGO Club (30 November) will be looking at how green policies and environmental outcomes are being embedded in government contracts through public procurement.

Millions of carbon tonnes are produced every year during delivery of government contracts. Public procurement is increasingly being used by governments as a strategic tool to achieve broad economic, social and environmental goals beyond the core requirements of a purchase. For example, the UK government has recently issued Procurement Policy Note (PPN) 06/21: Taking account of Carbon Reduction Plans in the procurement of major government contracts.

For this session, we invited Peter Smith, co-author of the book Procurement with Purpose, to share his insights on how public procurement can be leveraged to achieve additional environmental goals. Elizabeth Forster and Kate Gough will introduce theimplication of PPN 06/21 for government and suppliers. Ian Makgill from the Spend Network will present a new open data tool to help governments prioritise contracts for carbon reduction and when. We will also be joined by Professor Fredo Schotanus, from the Centre for Public Procurement (UUCePP) Utrecht University, who will introduce a call for papers for a special issue of the Sustainability journal titled: 'The new era of sustainable public procurement'.

Deploying public procurement as a strategic driver of innovation is rising up national and regional policy agendas. However, quoting from the recently published UK Innovation Strategy  “the overall culture, expertise and incentive structure of the public sector means there is a low appetite for risk and experimentation”. Overcoming this weak appetite for risk is a major challenge. While there is a deep body of research on procurement law, there is little quantified data on the innovation elements of procurement to guide decision makers.

In this POGO session we will hear about a new Consortium's examination of the research gap and their plans to bridge it. Then we will have perspectives from four specialists who are addressing the challenge and facilitating innovative procurement outcomes at city, region and country level.

Our June Oxford POGO call took place on 29 June, 4-5pm BST. 

We discussed sustainable public procurement in Europe, with Katharina Vierlich, Head of Unit Public Procurement Policy at European Commission.

Our May call took place on Tuesday 25 May at 16:00 (London).

For this session, we invited leading practitioners to explore data and transparency in social value procurement. This involved a presentation on the topic, followed by a response panel. 

Background Resources

• Oxford POGO Club (2021), Response to Green Paper on Transforming Public Procurement
• Peter Smith. Radical Transparency: The future of public procurement
• Procurement with Purpose
• Peter Smith. 2020. Bad Buying, order book here
• Spend Network. 2021. Procurement Inequality: Understanding the gender pay gap in government contracting

Our April call took place on Tuesday 27 April at 16:00 (London).

The focus of this month's call was system level learning in a procurement system. We explored questions on how the public procurement system is working at a regional level or national level, who gets to know and what they do with that knowledge.

Background Resources

• Anne Davies and Ruairi Macdonald (2021), blog, Transforming public procurement
• Oxford POGO Club (2021), Response to Green Paper on Transforming Public Procurement
• OECD Methodology for Assessing Procurement Systems (MAPS).

Our March call took place on Tuesday 24 March at 16:00 (London).

For our March call, we welcomed Elena Hoffnagle, Project Leader at Government Performance Lab, Harvard Kennedy School, and Gian Luigi Albano, procurement expert and Adjunct Professor of Economics at LUISS “G. Carli”, Rome for two short but substantive discussions on: 1. How to leverage procurement to improve social outcomes; and 2. Thinking about framework agreements.

Background Resources:

• Government Performance Lab, Harvard Kennedy School (2021), Guidebook: Crafting a Results-Driven Request for Proposals
• Gian Luigi Albano and Caroline Nicholas (2016), The Law and Economics of Framework Agreements: Designing Flexible Solutions for Public Procurement

Our February call took place on Tuesday 23th of February at 16:00 (London)

We had a short but substantive discussion of organisation culture in procurement processes. Our prompt for the panel was: Viewed through a lens of ‘culture’ are there tensions between (i) commercial and public or social value considerations (ii) transactional and partnership / relational working and/or (iii) central oversight and local leadership? 

We presented the law reform working group’s public response to a the UK Government’s Green Paper: Transforming public procurement. We also explored in more depth a key theme to emerge from the working group’s discussion – culture.

Our February call took place on Tuesday 23 February at 16:00 (GMT). 

• We presented the law reform working group’s public response to the UK Government’s Green Paper: Transforming public procurement. 
• We also explored in more depth a key theme to emerge from the working group’s discussion – culture.

Sign up to our new POGO working groups here & join the mailing list by emailing Ruairi Macdonald at ruairi.macdonald@bsg.ox.ac.uk

Context: UK Government Green Paper, Transforming Public Procurement

The UK Government has published a Green Paper, Transforming Public Procurement, that is intended to shape the future of public procurement in the UK for many years to come. "The government’s goal is to speed up and simplify our procurement processes, place value for money at their heart, and unleash opportunities for small businesses, charities and social enterprises to innovate in public service delivery". 

In this POGO law reform working group we are proposing to make a written response to this Green Paper. Please join this session by signing up by completing this short suvey to share your comments and reflections on the Green Paper.

If you have any questions about this working group or any of the others listed about please contact Ruairi Macdonald.

POGO Club January Meeting

The session followed and built upon November's meeting discussion on the UK Government's issuing of 'Procurement Policy Note (PPN) 06/20 - taking account of social value in the award of central government contracts'. In this session, we heard reflections from the UK Government and continued our comparisons to see how social value is procured internationally. 

Background Resources:

• UK Government (2020)  Procurement Policy Note 06/20.
• UK Government (2019)  Consultation [closed] on Social Value in public procurement.
• UK Government (2018)  Social Value Act Introductory Guide.

To register for this event, please contact Ruairi Macdonald.

Our May call took place on Tuesday 24th of November at 16:00 (London). 

• We discussed "social value" in public procurement and contract management.
• Discussants included: Terry Brewer (Social Value Portal), Julian Blake (Stone King), Ben Carpenter (Social value UK), Abby Semple (Procurement Analysis), Mehdi Shiva (University of Oxford), and Edward Hickman (ATQ Consultants). 

Our July call took place on Tuesday 28th of July at 16:00 (London). 

• We discussed a Complex Contracting Framework and an Alliance Contracting Model in Plymouth. 
• Discussants included: Professor Trevor Brown (John Glenn College of Public Affairs, The Ohio State University) and Gary Wallace (Plymouth City Council).

Our June call took place on Tuesday 30th of June at 16:00 (London). 

• We discussed contract management and outcomes. 
• Sebastian Barreto Cifuentes presented aspects of his PhD thesis. Daniella Jammes, Mark Roddan, Benjamin Taylor and Paul Conneely offered comments from a practical perspective.  

Our April call took place on Tuesday 28th of April at 16:00 (London). 

• Professor Sope Williams-Elegbe from Stellenbosch University (South Africa) introduced a discussion on Outcomes Contracting vs. Corruption. 
  
• Paulo Magina, Head of the OECD Public Procurement Unit, introduced a discussion on the OECD’s Methodology for Assessing Procurement Systems (MAPS). Check out the MAPS website here. 
  

Our March call took place on Tuesday 31st of March at 16:00 (London).

• We switched from our regular programming to discuss: “Emergency Public Procurement & Contract Changes.” 
• Prof. Christopher Yukins introduced our discussion. 

Our January call took place on 28th of January 2020

• Chairperson: Anne Davies 
• Julian Blake introduced a discussion on the topic "Professional judgment – the scope of procurement professionals’ discretion in law and practice."  
• Abby Semple shared insights emerging from #WeBuySocialEU - a European Commission (EC) project run by Local Governments for Sustainability (ICLEI). 
• Supporting resources included The Art of the Possible (2016) and Procurement to Partnership (2019).