Understanding the Public Services Industy

Public Services Industry Review
Annex D: Governance of Public Procurement – Roles and Responsibilities
There is a plethora of organisations involved in the governance of public procurement. This
annex describes the roles of the most prominent ones and graphically presents the primary
role of each of these within the commissioning landscape.
The National Audit Office is the body responsible for providing the financial audits to
government of all government departments and agencies and many other public bodies
as per the legislative requirement. Their Value for Money reports also provide advice and
evaluation of public service delivery on a wide range of issues (operations or individual
projects) based on three criteria of economical resource use, an efficient input-output
relationship and effectiveness of outcomes.
The Office for Government Commerce are responsible for improving value for money
in procurement, programme and project management in central government. Through
implementation of the Transforming Government Procurement report (HMT, 2007) OGC
aim to raise procurement standards, develop the skills of procurement professionals,
drive value for money through collaborative procurement and play a stronger role in the
successful delivery of major projects. The report enabled the OGC’s primary method of
scrutiny - procurement capability reviews which assess how far procurement in government
departments meets the standards required to deliver value for money services both now
and in the future; the initial review is followed up after 6 months and at 12 months with a
new review after 24 months. OGC’s wider work includes developing practical procurement
guidance, representing the UK on EU procurement policy and improving professional
procurement skills through the Government Procurement Service. The OGC’s other means
of scrutiny is through the advice and analytical appraisal they provide to the Major Project
Review Group (MPRG). MPRG is HMT-led and reviews the most complex and high value
projects across the public sector at three key stages (when the business case is approved,
before proceeding to Tender, prior to contract signature) to determine whether they are
deliverable and highly likely to be successful. Further project management evaluation
is carried out by OGC through their Gateway Reviews which examine programmes and
projects at key decision points in the lifecycle to determine successful progression to the
next stage. The process is mandatory in central civil government for procurement, ITenabled
and construction programmes and projects.
4ps (local government’s project delivery specialist) carry out Gateway Reviews at the local
government level. They also provide hands-on project support and skills development and
aim to spread best practice know-how by working in partnership with local authorities to
secure funding and accelerate the development, procurement and implementation of PFI
schemes, public private partnerships, complex projects and programmes.
The Department for Communities and Local Government (DCLG) are responsible for
national policy on local government in England which includes the transformational agenda
to ensure services better meet the needs of local residents and businesses whilst using
resources in the optimum way. An example of their support to local councils is through the
Regional Improvement and Efficiency Partnerships programme which has a procurement
workstream.
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