Understanding the Public Services Industy

Public Services Industry Review
4.46 Evidence of the skills gap at the local government level has been assembled by the
Audit Commission 53 It found that out of a sample of 95 local authority inspections
between 2001 and 2006, almost three quarters contained at least one recommendation
concerning capacity /expertise and out of the 786 recommendations made in these
reports 231 related to this theme. Drawing on survey data from the ODPM, they found
that lack of staff ability in procurement systems was perceived by local authorities to
be the single largest barrier to improving procurement.
Reform of the Government Procurement Service
4.47 Partly in response to these findings HMT re-launched the GPS in 2007 with the Chief
Executive of the OGC as its new professional head 54 . The intent of this reform was to
establish the GPS as a professional body similar in status to the Government Economic
and Statistical services. In its new role the GPS will set the standards for procurement
professionals, enable better sharing of best practice, provide career development
and training as well as a greater coherence in terms of procurement roles between
departments. The programme of departmental procurement capability reviews
referred to above is a key component of this process. Permanent Under Secretaries
will be held responsible for delivering their recommendations and progress will be
assessed in follow on reviews every two years.
Project Monitoring
4.48 Compared to the vast amount of attention given to procurement, the focus on project
monitoring and management has been sorely neglected. This is the longest stage of
the PSI’s involvement in a project and is of key importance for the effective delivery of
high value public services. A clear framework for monitoring the benefits delivered,
addressing issues as they arise and recording lessons learned should be a central
component of any project.
4.49 This remains an area in which there is scope for significant improvement within
both the public and private sectors. Submissions to the Review have stated that
there can be too much emphasis on ‘getting something delivered’ and not enough
on what happens afterwards, particularly in terms of an effective customer-supplier
relationship. There is substantial evidence that a flexible and open partnership during
this phase of the project delivers greater benefits than an arms-length relationship (see
recommendation 4).
4.50 Key to addressing this issue is having the right people, with the right skills on both
sides of the relationships. Good project managers are in short supply and more needs
to be done to ensure that best practice is spread across the public sector.
53 Healthy Competition, Audit Commission (2007), For Better or For Worse, Audit Commission (2008).
54 Transforming Government Procurement, HMT (2007).
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