PROCUREMENT
Mark Roberts
Mark Roberts, UK Public Sector director at Jaggaer – a provider of cloud-based business automation technology for business spend management, is an experienced senior executive, with a track record in transforming procurement processes in complex public and private sector organisations. His previous spells as
Commercial director for the Metropolitan Police Service in London, and Commercial Continuous Improvement director for the Government Commercial Function, have afforded him ‘an extensive and up-to- date understanding of processes, challenges, and objectives, for public sector procurement in both central departments and the wider public sector’. At Jaggaer he
oversees UK Public Sector strategy in Central and Local Government, ‘consolidating the business’s long-term commitment to serving the UK public sector with award-winning insights and expertise to help it effectively leverage the potential of critical technological tools’.
Digitalisation and automation will play a key role in managing the larger volumes of data from diverse sources, and automated real-time information retrieval and analysis will prove invaluable in supporting decision-making and value assessments based on the Most Advantageous Tender rather than the Most Economically Advantageous Tender principle
against contractual obligations over the period of their engagement. This way, contracting authorities will have access to a more complete picture, and will be able to analyse suppliers’ performance in greater detail. In turn, suppliers will be able to access tender opportunities more openly, while taxpayers will have access to information on how exactly their money is being spent over a period of time. Additionally, to ensure transparency and keep suppliers accountable, a Public Disbarment List has been established. This will include companies that fail to honour their obligations to the British public, who will risk being excluded from future tenders, or even be disbarred indefinitely.
Opportunities for smaller businesses To foster competition and local communities, the bill opens the NHS doors to smaller businesses with less history on the market and no track record of public sector tendering, often regarded as too time- and resource-consuming for companies with fewer resources. However, these suppliers come with more potential risk, which NHS buyers will need to carefully manage. To ensure compliance with the new regulation’s objective to open up the market to new businesses, while managing taxpayers’ funds carefully, they will need to leverage more data sources than ever before, calling for more in-depth and predictive analysis tools.
Digitalisation and automation will play a key role in managing the larger volumes of data from diverse sources, and automated real-time information retrieval and analysis will prove invaluable in supporting decision-making and value assessments based on the MAT rather than the MEAT principle.
Growing pains and potential challenges As the market opens up to more players, and thus more factors need to be taken into account, buyers may be queried on an increasing number of points, leading to possible litigation. As the bill requires increased transparency on both the buyer’s and supplier’s side, no doubts should be left unchecked. In fact, the new system introduces a more complex evaluation, eradicating the idea that the cheapest choice is the optimum solution, as it could even lead to limited access to medication, increase waiting time for patients in need of surgery, check-ups, or consultation, and worsen overcrowding in under-staffed healthcare facilities. To integrate the new bill into the existing NHS’s
procurement system, it’s important to acknowledge the need to support all involved parties that have now to deal with new requirements, giving them a chance to understand and learn to operate within the bill’s framework. Learning on the job, however, even with the best possible intentions, can put a lot of pressure on procurement teams, aware that suppliers may look for any possible reason to challenge their decision.
70 Health Estate Journal May 2025
A ‘comprehensive learning programme’ To ease this transition, the Cabinet Office has put into place a comprehensive programme of learning and development for procurement and commercial teams, that will be also open to staff whose work is just adjacent to procurement. This programme will cover different commercial strategies, including planning, governance, assurance, and resources. Another critical consideration is that the current global
market is very different to the one for which the bill was developed. The new protectionist climate, with tariffs and counter-tariffs potentially impacting the cost of materials, and consequentially products and services that rely on those materials, is a global situation that could, for example, impact the 2020 NHS Hospital Build Programme, with its aim of delivering 40 new hospitals by 2030. The Programme was reviewed in January 2025, with the confirmation of funding with £15 bn of new investment over consecutive five-year ‘waves’.3
The current state of procurement and supply chain Commercial procurement teams have been under an increasing amount of pressure over the last decade, and things show no signs of slowing down. From unexpected sourcing needs driven by the COVID-19 pandemic, to a steep decline in pharmaceutical clinical trial populations caused by the Russian invasion of the Ukraine (both significant contributors to clinical trials for several years), to Houthi attacks on vessels transporting goods on the Red Sea, the global supply chain has been rocked repeatedly. On top of that, the latest shift in the geopolitical environment is changing the logic of free markets, and re-drawing the global supply chain map with concepts such as ‘nearshoring’ and ‘friendshoring’, posing yet another critical challenge for procurement and supply chains worldwide. The new UK Procurement Act adds another layer of complication to this already uncertain landscape, requiring commercial procurement teams to fully understand the new legislation, and to carefully manage potential risks posed by introducing new players – such as smaller, younger businesses. In fact, reports show that 60% of small businesses in the UK fail within the first three years, an indication that smaller players could struggle to deliver on large contracts.
Efficient data management can help NHS buyers
identify businesses that could pose a risk in the long term. Additionally, automated real-time information retrieval and analysis can lead to better informed, more efficient, decision making, while due diligence in vetting suppliers against multiple criteria can be streamlined with tools that help rapidly interpret multiple data sources ranging from certifications to financial reports, and even news articles. Technology can also prove instrumental to comply with the new requirement of continuously monitoring supplier
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