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SubscribeNew government rules and better training are needed to ensure the public sector is not left with the cost of contractor failure, according to a think tank.
Ensuring local authority procurement officers have better training would deliver better deals and save money, according to a report by Reform into the £284bn spent on public sector procurement.
The report, Please Procure Responsibly: The state of public service commissioning, said contracts should also be able to consider social value issues such as local employment.
But it also warned of a skills gap in local government in contract design and oversight.
Meg Hillier MP, chair of the public accounts committee, said: “The Public Accounts Committee has a long-standing concern about the ability of the civil service to not only draw up contracts, but also to manage them.”
