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Brexit: Council leaders call for simplified procurement to boost local economies

A simplification of rules regulating how councils buy goods and services from contractors could help to unlock enormous local growth and create new jobs after Brexit, according to the Local Government Association (LGA).

It claimed that leaving the European Union provided a significant opportunity to streamline the protracted and arcane procurement process used currently and replace it with more efficient rules that would give councils greater scope to use local suppliers.

Currently councils have to follow EU-wide rules on advertising and award procedures when buying goods and services to ensure that all interested firms across the single market have an opportunity to bid for the contract.

However, the process can take anywhere from three to 18 months, which the LGA claims is twice as long as typical private sector procurements, while only 1.2% of contracts are awarded to companies in other member states.

Cllr Kevin Bentley, Chairman of the LGA’s Brexit Task and Finish Group, said that Brexit would have an understandably ‘significant’ impact on local government and posed a number of challenges as well as ‘opportunities to do things differently’.

On procurement, he said: “The way councils spend money has a huge bearing on local growth and job creation. But EU rules over how they buy goods and services can stifle those efforts and take up time and money.”

The LGA has called for lighter touch regulation to help speed up the procurement process, and unlock economic benefits in their localities, including the ability to specify a minimum local living wage for suppliers’ employees, or other societal benefits such as awarding contracts with local job or training stipulations attached.

Bentley added that the LGA still recognised the need for a regulated system which ensured taxpayers were getting value for money.

He added: “Regulation of public procurement will clearly continue to be necessary when we leave the EU to allow councils to continue to demonstrate best value for money and ensure effective and fair competition.

“But introducing more local flexibility and easier procurement rules after Brexit would provide more community benefits and more growth opportunities for SMEs. It would also allow councils to promote local suppliers and local labour and ensure workers earn a decent wage.”

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