The Association for Consultancy and Engineering (ACE) has called for better procurement practices in its latest paper: Procuring professional services. The paper sets out the common problems with procurement and goes on to list eight key principles of professional services.
The Chancellor is preparing to announce £6 billion of savings needed to address the UK’s budget deficit. ACE believes that adopting these eight principles will help the public sector to achieve these efficiencies in a sustainable and cost-effective manner.
Nelson Ogunshakin, ACE chief executive, said: “The public sector will be taking a very keen look at its costs as the Government begins to reduce the national debt and tackle the structural deficit. Returns from investing in infrastructure can be as much as double the initial investment. This means it is worth continuing to invest in new capital projects and existing national infrastructure. Good procurement practices reduce waste and increase value to the taxpayer, thereby making it easier to invest.”
While the paper is aimed primarily at the public sector, the principles of best value procurement apply equally to the private sector.
Nelson Ogunshakin added: “Everybody benefits through good procurement. If the cost of procurement is reduced then access to the market for the consulting and engineering sector will be greater. This will lead to a financially healthier and sustainable sector that can deliver the low carbon economy that politicians from all parties aspire to.”
ACE has also produced a shorter guide titled Better value?
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For press information please contact Simon Goldie on 020 7227 1892 or 07905 279328 – sgoldie@acenet.co.uk
Notes to editors
To read the summary paper Best value, please click here.
To read the full paper, please click here.