Optimising Local Government Procurement During COVID-19 and Beyond: Lessons From the Crisis, 2020-2022

These data were generated as part of a fifteen month ESRC-funded research project ‘Optimising Outcomes from Procurement and Partnering for COVID-19 and Beyond: Lessons from the Crisis’ (Nov 2020 – Feb 2022; ESRC ref: ES/V015842/1) examining how local authorities responded to the COVID-19 crisis through their commissioning and procurement. Viewing procurement as a ‘lever’ to optimise outcomes, it examined how this might be strengthened through strategic, entrepreneurial, data-led and relational enablers to deliver both desired outcomes for communities (‘procurement as governance’) and intermediate procurement outcomes (‘governance of procurement’). The study considered all four nations of the UK. Transcripts comprise interviews with stakeholders from local government (n=53), central government (n=14), private sector (n=17), and third sector (n=18). A survey of local government officers (N=205) involved in commissioning and procurement was developed to gather data on the response from local government to the COVID-19 crisis in terms of their procurement activity. Two further surveys (N= 602 and N=212) were developed to gather data on the response from UK local government suppliers to the COVID-19 crisis.

‘Optimising Outcomes from Procurement and Partnering for Covid-19 and Beyond: Lessons from the Crisis’ was a 15 month research project (Nov 2020 – Feb 2022) funded by the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC ref: ES/V015842/1) and carried out by researchers at the Universities of Stirling, Cardiff, Northumbria and Oxford. Public procurement has been firmly in the spotlight during the Covid-19 crisis. Noting claims (IoG,2018) that UK local authorities (LAs) spend around £100bn (or 47% of their total budget) annually on procurement, this study set out to understand how lessons could be learned during the Covid-19 crisis to optimize outcomes from this resource. Ineffective procurement arrangements present risks for the delivery/continuity of public services in a crisis. Where rapid scaling-up of services is necessary, the limits of some LAs' capacities (and those of their supply-chains) are often tested as costs, staff and supply shortages increase. LAs must simultaneously act to protect essential supply-chains where demand has collapsed. Such challenges require smart and agile procurement responses to build strong, effective and efficient relationships and generate positive impacts for local communities. This study investigated these important issues, and whether new ways of working may have emerged in the response to Covid-19 that might also be useful beyond it. The team examined emerging opportunities to maximise the impact of, and leverage additional value from LA procurement. In doing so, the project has explored a number of enablers for procurement, including strategic, entrepreneurial, data-led and relational approaches that may strengthen the system and promote resilience. In the absence of these enablers the system may still operate - but at risk of being substantially underpowered. With extensive involvement and support from key stakeholders, the project examined what is working well, less well, why, and with what effects and implications. It asked how, and how effectively, are LAs using procurement to address the challenges posed by Covid-19? What are the successes to be celebrated? Where are the tensions that need to be managed? Where is the system at risk of breaking down? What opportunities are there for improved procurement performance? The project has provided an opportunity for reflection on the ability of the 'procurement ecosystem' to respond in a crisis; clarifying critical-success-factors and pressure-points and discussing what to do next.

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