Case studies

Our 2016 report on contracted-out health and disability assessments praised the Department for Work & Pensions and suppliers on the transition of health assessment provision from one supplier to another. However, we still found that the Department needs to prepare for transition earlier and had done limited preparatory work for contract transition.

We reported in 2016 that HM Revenue & Customs had set out a phased approach to replacing its Aspire contract to manage commercial and technical risk and give it more time to smoothly exit from the contract. This followed findings in our 2014 report that the Department had yet to develop a formal business case and overall project plan. It was left with much to achieve in little time.

Our 2015 report paper on managing provider failure set out options for managing failure and how adopting either a market-focused or provider-focused approach reflects different appetites for failure. We reported seeing many instances where government has set up failure regimes but few occasions where it has allowed suppliers to actually fail. To manage markets and suppliers it is important for government to follow through with its planned processes for failure.

The Ministry of Justice completed a lessons learned exercise on its language services contract, (2014 report) reviewing lessons to ensure that they would be taken into account in future contracts. In particular, the Department reviewed the use of management information for new policies. It conducted a separate review of governance that led to the Department strengthening its governance, including its approvals and assurance processes.