The latest market focus report by BiP Solutions “Challenges and Opportunities for Local Government Procurement in a Digital World” reports that local government IT spend between hit £1.3bn between September and December 2018.
Challenges and opportunities for local government procurement
Digital transformation has been high on the local government agenda since the government released the “Government Transformation Strategy” in early 2017.
“Challenges and Opportunities for Local Government Procurement in a Digital World” reveals that the highest figure for IT spend arose through a single opportunity procured by Norfolk County Council. This report states that this contract “dwarfs some of the figures for other departments’ combined spend for the same period”.
The top five local government organisations spending on IT spend in the last four months of 2018 were Norfolk County Council, Leicester City Council, Portsmouth City Council, Hampshire County Council and Cherwell District & South Northamptonshire Council. What was spent by these organisations can be found within the report.
What type of tenders have been awarded?
Local government has also awarded contracts with funding made available as part of ongoing digital transformation projects.
£200 million from the National Productivity Investment Fund has been granted to trial innovative ways to introduce full fibre Internet to rural areas. Primary schools will be used as a test-bed for this.
Nine councils in England have collectively received £700,000 to test technology-led social care projects, with funding going towards design and development.
Local Authority Tenders
This report highlights that local councils publish a considerable number of lower-value small-scale tender opportunities as well as higher-profile, higher-value contracts – which shows that the market is open to suppliers from all business backgrounds.
Many SMEs play a major part in local government procurement, some through the supply chain. If you are interested in supplying services or products to local government organisations, discover the extensive opportunities available by requesting a Tracker Intelligence free trial.
