Local government procurement

The Communities and Local Government Committee calls on local government to step up to the mark and get better value from the £45 billion it spends each year procuring goods and services. The Local Government Association to invest now to ensure procurement skills are embedded across councils. This requires in-depth skills from all staff involved in designing, commissioning and managing services, not just procurement officers. The Committee's recommendations include: improved collaboration between councils; exploiting the potential of procurement to deliver local priorities by letting contracts not just on the basis of price, but on the basis of wider social value; cutting burdens on local businesses, imposed in part by a culture of over-zealous application of EU procurement guidelines; Councils must not 'let and forget' contracts but should pro-actively tackle fraud throughout the lifetime of a contract, not just at the tender stage; and managing outsourcing, including considering whether they wish to take into account a bidder's policies on employment issues, including zero hours contracts when letting contracts