By Nick Mann | 20 December 2011
Creating government procurement review bodies could help bring ‘lean thinking’ into public sector contract awards, according to a competition lawyer.
Graeme Young, a partner in the European Union and competition group at legal firm Dundas & Wilson, told Public Finance that a review board or administrative tribunal could be used by unsuccessful bidders for contracts. This might help to improve both the quality and consistency of procurement practices, he said.
Last month, Cabinet Office minister Francis Maude highlighted the ‘eye-watering’ cost of bidding for public sector contracts and the time and complexity of procurement processes.
In particular, he said the UK compared unfavourably with France and Germany, both in terms of the cost of submitting bids and in the proportion of contracts let to foreign companies.
He outlined plans to speed up the procurement process for government contracts and also to avoid the use of the ‘clunky’ competitive dialogue procedure where possible. The government has also mooted improving training for those procuring contracts.
‘The general criticism is that processes are too long and too complicated,’ Young explained. ‘They’re seen as being driven by the process rather than what needs to be bought.’
He welcomed the direction of the measures being taken by Maude. ‘The government is probably driving at the right point saying we should do things a bit smarter or use a more consistent approach.’
But, he said, introducing review bodies could be a more effective measure. ‘If Francis Maude is pushing for better, smarter procurement and more consistency across the picture, this could be one way of doing it rather than training, which could be seen as a soft option,’ he said.
‘If you introduce an efficient review body it might be more effective at driving the right behaviour.’
Young explained that in France, appeals by unsuccessful bidders could be made to local administrative courts, where judges would undertake a review within 20 days. This was used more than 5,000 times a year, he noted.
In Germany, specialised procurement review bodies that make a decision within five weeks are used more than 1,000 times a year, he added.
He contrasted this with the UK, where the only viable option was to seek a judicial review. This, he said, was a ‘particularly nuclear’ avenue to pursue, ‘but they don’t have a less dramatic alternative’.
