Transforming Government's Contract Management (2014) Cross-government reviews following the discovery of over-billing on electronic monitoring contracts found widespread problems with contract management. The root causes of poor contract management included government's disadvantage in commercial capability, with the commercial profession having low status within the civil service. This needs to be addressed by widespread change in the culture of the civil service and a targeted focus on commercial capability.
Transforming Contract Management in HO and MOJ (2014) This report sets out a comparative analysis of the steps taken by the Home Office and Ministry of Justice to reform their contract management governance and capability.
Transforming Rehabilitation (2016) - This report describes how the Ministry of Justice has applied lessons from previous failures and has invested heavily in robust contract management of the 21 Community Rehabilitation Companies running outsourced probation services. Direct contract management resources account for some 2.1% of contract spend, and are deployed through the Ministry's new multi-disciplinary model whose potential we reported on in 2014.
Latest PAC report Public Accounts Committee: Transforming contract management progress review (2016) - Government's 2015 programme of commercial capability reviews found consistent themes including capability too focused on procurement rather than market-shaping or contract management, high vacancy levels in commercial roles, and the need to improve the commercial skills of operational staff and strengthen lines of accountability. There are encouraging signs of change, but the current pace of progress with reform is disappointing. |