The public sector procurement process in the UK is 90% more expensive than the average cost in Europe, new research reveals.
The report - published by the Centre for Economics and Business Research (CEBR) and commissioned by Gatewit - found that the UK incurs the highest combined costs for public sector bodies and the bidding private sector company in the EU.
The average total cost of a competitive procurement process for both the public body and the bidding private sector company in the UK is £45,200, compared to an EU average of £23,900.
The research also showed that the UK process is 53 days longer than the European average.
The report finds that public sector procurement is most expensive in the EU. Pedro Vaz Paulo, CEO of Gatewit, said: ‘There are multiple areas of concern for public sector procurement departments in the CEBR data. With public bodies looking to reduce expenditure across the board, the cost of attracting bids in the UK is still too high when compared to other similar European countries. The long duration of competitive procurement processes in the UK adds expense because of the increased labour costs incurred by longer competitions.
‘The EU Commission aims to combat these problems through a mandate requiring all public bodies to implement e-procurement platforms by 2016. Some countries have already begun to implement these solutions, but our own research has predicted savings of £30bn across Europe when the rules come into force and the use of e-procurement becomes widespread.’
