View from the top: Helping the industry to procure innovation

Effective procurement of innovation, underpinned by commissioning, has never been more important for local government. Introducing innovation into public services, at a time of decreasing resources, is critical for councils to improve productivity and efficiency to deliver better outcomes for local people.

I’ve worked with and in the public sector for more years than I wish to betray my age. Throughout that time, procurement has often been seen, rightly or wrongly, to hold back the adoption of innovation. This is a somewhat simplistic statement and of course the nuances are much more complicated than this.

However, we do hear regularly from councils and the supply chain about their wish to find an easy and dynamic route to access the market and to access leading innovators. It was because of this that Martin Duffy, our Chair, has driven passionately the creation of the Innovation Procurement System (IPS), with the full support of DfT. The idea behind the IPS is to try and remove hurdles for LCRIG Members so that innovation can be accelerated across the industry across England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland. The resounding message from LCRIG members and the IPS advisory board was to enable our members an easy access route to proven innovation and we’ve tried to do this by working with the leading procurement organisation in the UK.

The only real partner we could see to help deliver this was Crown Commercial Services (CCS), the biggest public procurement organisation in the UK which already helps thousands of public and third sector buyers in the UK with billions of pounds of spending each year. Partnering with CCS is a demonstration to the sector that the IPS is set to become the premier hub for those wanting to procure innovation.

Over the next few months there will be webinars, FAQs and support that LCRIG is offering to councils and the supply chain. The first webinar to help supply chain is on the 8th August, register here . Accessing the IPS hub is here and further information can be found here.