Second Reading Briefing - Procurement Bill

Public procurement is the single biggest area of British government spending, totalling over £284 billion per year - a third of all public expenditure. Lack of transparency in the procurement system has been shown to reduce competition and increase costs, leaving the taxpayer to shoulder the burden, and the ‘VIP lanes’ during the Covid-19 Pandemic illustrate the potential for corruption and bad practice in our system.

The Procurement Bill is a once-in-a-generation opportunity to create a single, coherent rule-book governing UK procurement, and for a smarter, digitised and agile system to better meet the demands for improved services to citizens and to unlock innovation in the UK economy.