Survey participants are frustrated at the high rate of churn among civil servants - they no longer expect that there will be continuity on major procurements or throughout the life of a contract. This is yet another issue of long standing. One of the consequences is a lack of experience and competence. It is not unusual for external advisers to be the custodians of corporate memory. A second implication is that there is less accountability for results - one participant referred to it as a game of 'pass the parcel' - the medium-term consequences of a decision (or non-decision) are someone else's problem.
There has been renewed focus in the past couple of years on building the commercial capabilities of government. This is welcomed in the industry, although it has been identified by government inquiries over so many years, that suppliers are not yet reassured that a fundamental shift has taken place. But this focus on so-called commercial capabilities is both too narrow and too broad. There are a number of different disciplines necessary for the effective stewardship of public service markets - commissioning, procurement, contract management and market design and management.