'Money-saving' UK procurement platform racks up monster tab

The UK government is set to see annual spending on a procurement portal designed to help save money increase by more than eight times compared to projected plans.

Introducing the Procurement Act 2023, the government said it would streamline the online portal for the public sector to flag upcoming work and suppliers to engage with buyers and bid for jobs.

The UK currently runs two platforms for public procurement: contractsfinder.service.gov.uk, and find-tender.service.gov.uk.

Introducing the plans under the former Conservative government, Jacob Rees-Mogg, then Minister of State for Brexit Opportunities and Government Efficiency, said the government wanted to establish "a single digital platform for supplier registration that ensures businesses only have to submit their data once to qualify for any public sector procurement. This will integrate procurements across the country and provide a consistent data storage facility to improve transparency."

At the same time, according to his projections in 2022, anticipated ongoing running costs would be £1.5 million a year from 2024/25 to 2030/31.

However, two Cabinet Office procurement notices that have recently come to light show these projections undershoot the actual costs by a considerable margin.

From procurement notices earlier this year, consultancy EY was awarded £17 million over two years to be a "Digital Delivery Partner for the Central Digital Platform (CDP)."

EY will run "a transformation programme supporting the digital delivery of Transforming Public Procurement. The CDP will drive greater efficiency in the procurement process for both government and suppliers and enable greater effectiveness and transparency across £300 billion annual UK Government's procurement spend," the notice said.

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The contract is set to run from February 2025 until February 2027. It says it will be developed from the existing Find a Tender Service (FTS).

Meanwhile, a separate contract award has been made to Goaco Group for £8 million over two years for the "Provision of Support and Maintenance for the Central Digital Platform." That contract is expected to run from April 2025 until April 2027.

To sum up, a platform once expected to cost £1.5 million a year now looks closer to £12 million. Even if you discount the transformation program, likely to address business change and training, the £4 million annual costs for maintenance are more than double that expected.

In separate news, public sector researchers Tussell have recently shown that UK public sector spending on consultants has fallen slightly from £3.3 billion in 2023/24 to £3.2 billion in 2024/25. Against this backdrop, the increased spending on the procurement platform itself looks even starker.

The Cabinet Office has been offered the opportunity to comment. ®