Perhaps government procurement people should be sacked for buying from overseas
1 min read
The issue of government procurement policy has been a thorny one over the years. A decade ago, the Electronics Innovation and Growth Team noted the issue was one of importance and that a refocusing of that policy would be of great help to the UK's electronics sector. The issue has remained thorny: despite the efforts of a range of people and bodies, nothing seems to have changed.
But there's no reason why the UK's electronics sector shouldn't be a major supplier to the Government in areas beyond defence. Amongst the markets being targeted by the ESCO initiative is healthcare. Warren East, chair of the ESCO Council, believes there is a great opportunity for UK companies to sell technology to the NHS. "But the NHS is buying from overseas," he said, "because it seems that working together is too difficult."
Martin Donnelly, permanent secretary at the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills, believes government procurement is a strategic tool and the NHS is critical for this.
But there seems to be a gap between words and action. The computing industry worked for many years on the belief that you won't get sacked for buying from IBM. Is there a similar belief in government procurement circles that you won't get sacked for buying from anywhere but the UK? Why else would it be seen to be 'too difficult to work together'?
