Best Value for Money for Public Procurement

Part of 1. Questions to the First Minister – in the Senedd at 1:56 pm on 5 February 2019.

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Photo of Mark Isherwood Mark Isherwood Conservative 1:56, 5 February 2019

In November I hosted an Assembly event with 3SC, a social enterprise established to bid for public and other contracts, harnessing the power of the third sector to deliver those contracts via organisations that otherwise lose out. At the event they launched their position paper, 'The Crisis in Public Sector Contracting and How to Cure It: A Wales Perspective', highlighting some of the challenges the third sector face in relation to public sector procurement in Wales and some thoughts on how these could be addressed. They said that whilst the social enterprise sector is growing in Wales, the sector remains small and unfulfilled in reaching its full potential, and the presence of an internal monopoly in many local authorities is just as restrictive of innovation and diversity as if the service was being provided by a big private sector outsourcer. How, therefore, will you engage with this report to look at its proposals for greater sensitivity in how services are procured and an explicit commitment for third sector and smaller organisations to secure a reasonable share of the public procurement pie? Finally, where they say problems such as reoffending, housing, disability and employment need co-operation, patience and clear thinking as well as money, but money that is spent not just with an eye to getting the cheapest solution, but the best solution—in other words, partnerships with purpose—will you consider this report?