National Procurement Strategy
Multi Participant Diagnostic

The local government National Procurement Strategy was published in 2018 by the LGA. It includes a set of 59 value codes which describe the maturity of an organisation to deliver effective procurement and contract management linked to a set of sector wide goals and aspirations.

In 2018 and 2021, the LGA invited the heads of procurement from each council in England and Wales to measure themselves against these value codes giving an overall national and regional picture of the status of procurement and contract management. The results are being used to better understand the change in focus for our councils and to further develop the strategy in 2022 and beyond.

You can find the 2018 National Procurement Strategy and Toolkit with value codes by clicking here.

The Value of this Diagnostic

The outcomes arising from this exercise have shown the differences between different councils and regions and how local priorities vary widely. While there is significant room for improvement, there are also exemplars present or in the making.

Procurement and contract management touch upon different interest groups and stakeholders both internally (e.g. departments) and externally (e.g. local businesses and community groups).

While the LGA Diagnostic asked for a single measure per authority, it fails to recognise the variances that may exist within an individual council; evidence suggests that this can vary by four whole points on a 1-5 scale.

The good news is that you can run the NPS Diagnostic (or a subset) across your own council. This allows you to find out where pressure points exist, how effective communications are and how well people are engaged with the wider procurement agenda.

What will I get?

The Diagnostic results are presented in an easy-to-use dashboard which will:

• identify current levels of achievement based on a defined range of outcomes across departments

• identify shortfalls/weaknesses that may exist in different departments and service critical areas

• identify pockets of good practice, knowledge and skills planning which could be shared with others

• gain positive engagement with, and ownership of, NPS2018 from leaders, elected members, chief officers and other professional stakeholder groups

• encourage participation in regional forums and initiatives around NPS2018

• support comparative analysis to your region and nationally

• offer clear ‘next steps’ to improve capability by value code

• allow T1 councils to comply with central government benchmarking requirement in 2022

How does it work?