In the run up to what promises to be one of the most closely fought elections, we take a look at how the two main parties factor procurement into proposed spending cuts, tackling the UK deficit and their election policies. 

Conservative Manifesto: Procurement to drive innovation

The Conservative manifesto has declared that the way in which purchasing is managed and conducted will be the key to promoting enterprise and innovation. Some of the details include:

·         A pledge to allocate 25% of government procurement contracts to SME’s by reducing administrative costs relating to bids.

·         All government tender documents over £10,000 will be published on the Supply2gGov website

·         Large ICT contracts will be segmented into smaller contract components providing opportunities for SME’s

·         Visibility of government contracts and projects over £25,000 for purchasing of all goods and services

·         Visibility of all project details that are awarded £25,000 or more of EU funds

·         Reform of the MOD’s procurement processes to reduce running costs by 25%

Labour Manifesto: Procurement to prioritise local people

The UK Labour party has pledged priority to local people from future public procurement, as part of their move to tackle immigration issues. They will also be focusing on government spending and overhauling department structures; some of the details include:

·         Reducing back-office and property running costs

·         Abolishing unnecessary quangos

·         Reducing costs on consultancy, marketing and lower priority spend areas

·         Reforming defence spending by reducing civilian staff , cutting costs  at headquarter offices and reducing consultancy and travel costs

·         Improving efficiency throughout police service procurement

In either case there’s no surprise that procurement and spending feature very strongly in this year’s general election issues.

We’ll be looking at the Liberal Democrat manifesto in upcoming blogs as we approach Election Day on May 6^th.

Automotive manufacturers Renault and Nissan recently announced that they have teamed up with German car maker Daimler on a joint purchasing initiative. By exchanging equity stakes in each organisation, these three automotive leaders have pledged to work together in developing technologies for small and electric cars, light commercial vehicles and next generation models.

In addition to product development plans, this unity of Renault, Nissan and Daimler provides the opportunity to benefit from common purchasing opportunities, share technology costs and gain scale. This collaboration perhaps indicates the need to share (albeit with competitors) in order to strengthen and reposition those organisations that have been the hardest hit during the recession and the automotive industry has undeniably been one of the industry sectors most severely affected.

Other collaborations such as this being common practice in public sector can increasingly be found in the private sector, and observing whether this trend continues once the recession subsides will be interesting - will we continue to see ground-breaking purchasing initiatives that generate joint business advantages or will competitive enmities resume?

In either case we are trying to lay foundations for suppliers and buyers to work more effectively together by investing in technology to support the collaboration between buying groups and supplying groups.