We need to talk, openly and honestly: part 2

In my part 1 blog post I talked about how unconferences are different to traditional conferences where the agenda, format and speakers are all pre-set.

I also talked about the rise of digital public goods and infrastructure, and an example of a technology procurement ‘anti-pattern’ where Digital Data and Technology (DDaT) and commercial teams fail to understand what already exists and could be reused, resulting in wasteful duplication countless times over.

In this blog post, I share the topics that the unconference participants discussed, and some detail behind the two discussions that I led.

The session grid: diversity of topics

It didn’t take long for the session grid to fill up with an interesting range of topics on challenges, hopes, opportunities, etc, which participants wanted to discuss.

Session 1

1. True innovation is rarely procured as people are not looking for it - led by Alice at the Tortoise table

2. Is His Majesty’s Government (HMG) really getting the "Right Thing at the Right Price"? - led by Richard at the Lion table

3. Bidding for contracts: easy or hard? - led by David at the Elephant table

4. Is it really true that the Government can't get its own data from suppliers? - led by André at the Parrot table

5. IR35: back to business - led by James and Natalie at the Dolphin table

Session 2

1. Why does David hate contracts? - led by Paula at the Lion table

2. We're doing security wrong! Gamification > policies - led by Jake at the Snake table

3. To show budget or not in a tender? - led by David at the Ostrich table

4. “It's the Lore!!” Constructively challenging custom and practice in procurement to deliver better services - led by me at the Elephant table

5. Writing outcome-based (DDaT) contracts In agile environments (is difficult, help me) - led by Ben at the Tortoise table

Session 3

1. Outcomes are dead! Long live outcomes! (what's happening to Digital Outcomes and Specialists (DOS) and G-Cloud, and the rise of Digital Specialists and Programmes (DSP)) - led by Alex at the Gorilla table

2. Social value - is it really, though? - led by Natalie at the Dolphin table

3. Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) are still at a substantial disadvantage in the public procurement process - led by Neil at the Snake table

4. How do we communicate better? - led by Kseniya at the Lion table

5. Embedding data ethics standards when procuring advanced tech - led by Sam at the Ostrich table

6. Buyers - who are they? - led by David at the Elephant table

Session 4

1. A match made in the market. What makes for successful partnerships, and are buyers interested? - led by Alex at the Lion table

2. How can procurement opportunities be more open? - led by David at the Ostrich table

3. Commercial curricula that are fit for the internet era: developing commercial leaders of the future - led by me at the Elephant table

4. Portals used by many public sector organisations are of poor quality and make the whole bid process more stressful. How can this be improved? - led by Neil at the Dolphin table

5. Multidisciplinary teams - how do we measure the performance of them? - led by Harry at the Tortoise table

We’ll update this blog post with a link to the GitHub wiki helpfully created by our unconference facilitator Lloyd Davis, which will provide full details of all topics discussed, once the materials have been added to this wiki.

Things I wanted to talk about

I led two table discussions during the unconference, and I’m very grateful for the open, honest and enthusiastic debate, and different perspectives contributed by the participants.

Constructively challenging custom and practice in procurement

I started by sharing a tweet from Sunday 9th October by former mayor of New York City and billionaire philanthropist Michael Bloomberg. In this tweet he said that Chief Innovation Officers are responsible for shattering the “we’ve always done it this way” mentality in City Halls, and leveraging innovation to improve how government works.

I also shared a paragraph from ISO 37106, which the International Organisation for Standardisation published in 2018 (and updated in 2021) to provide guidance on establishing operating models for sustainable cities and communities. It states:

“...There is a perception that there are barriers rooted in the legislative framework for procurement. However, this is not primarily the case: smart, outcomes-based procurement can be compatible with the fundamental premise of international law on public procurement, which states that authorities should specify outcomes, not technological solutions, in their procurement. The key barriers are rooted much more in procurement culture and practice, which can and should be tackled…”

It’s really important to be able to differentiate between procurement lore (custom and practice) and procurement law, to ensure better public services are delivered by embedding public benefit, transparency and integrity at the very heart of social value for money within all aspects of the UK’s procurement system.

Developing commercial leaders of the future

This discussion topic picked up from and built on where my previous discussion topic ended.

I asked participants at my table: based on their experiences, are commercial practitioners equipped to address intersectional challenges and overcome barriers to achieving the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development? The answer was unanimously, no.

I then asked: what needs to be done and by whom to embed public benefit, transparency and integrity in commercial, procurement and financial management curricula within the talent supply chain, to equip future civil servants to apply the culture, processes, business models and technologies of the internet era to respond to people’s raised expectations?

We collectively felt that although challenging, a collaborative multistakeholder approach could make a real difference, but coordinated action is needed immediately to focus on what’s needed for 2030, and longer-term for 2050. 

Follow us on LinkedIn and Twitter and keep posted for the final part 3 in this series, where I’ll share my reflections on the issues, challenges and root causes underlying the breadth of topics discussed at the tables throughout the day.