Report

Improving accountability in government procurement

Think tank: Institute for Government

Author(s): Ben Paxton; Nick Davies

September 17, 2024

This report from UK think tank the Institute for Government looks at improving accountability in government procurement.

The Procurement Act, brought in under the previous government and effective from February 2025, will bring in a new public sector procurement regime. Simplified regulations, greater transparency and enhanced exclusion criteria could all help improve accountability. But there are also risks. New requirements could impose more demands on already stretched resource inside and outside government. The Cabinet Office and central government departments, through small contracting authorities in the wider public sector, must be ready to adapt to the new regime.

This joint Institute for Government, Tussell and AutogenAI report sets out the scale of public procurement, and potential opportunities for insourcing in the IT and management consultancy sectors – then looks at how accountability in procurement works in practice, how the Procurement Act will change this, and the opportunities and risks for the new government to grasp in the months ahead.