Shaun Davey, CEO at IPL, led a joint session on the challenges facing agile procurement with David Shields, MD of the Government Procurement Service at a Cabinet Office conference on 21st November. This opportunity arose from IPL’s work with the Crown Representative for SMEs.
Cabinet Office minister Francis Maude gave the keynote speech at this event highlighting the Government’s ambitious plans for a new agile relationship with suppliers of IT and FM services and solutions. This will be the first of an ongoing series of high-level engagements between Government and its suppliers.
Davey’s address posed a number of challenges for public procurement professionals, including:
- How to procure agile solutions which are, by definition, indefinite
- How to compare agile solutions on a like-for-like basis
- How to ensure active participation from supplier, client and other stakeholders
- How to empower agile client/supplier teams to make effective and rapid decisions
As a long-term supplier of IT services to government, IPL welcomes the change of approach which has real potential to benefit suppliers and government, given the commitment to early engagement with suppliers, reductions in the cost of bidding and increased access for SMEs.
The Cabinet Office and key government CIOs are providing leadership in this area – will the legions of government IT and procurement staff follow their lead? Will the big suppliers do more than tack “agile” onto every marketing message? Watch this space.
You can read more about Shaun’s thoughts on the challenges ahead here or read the latest Computer Weekly article on the challenges faced with Public Sector procurement involving Agile Development, with comment from Shaun.