Taxpayer value from government contracts
Challenges in ensuring taxpayers gain from government contracts, requiring improved market testing and transparency of KPIs.
Strongest theme matches
Mixed across source types and ranked by classifier confidence plus text match strength.
Committee recommendation
100match
#6 - Seventeenth Report - Government’s contracts with Randox Laboratories Ltd
The Department did not do enough work to determine whether Randox was making excess profits from its contracts with Randox. Randox’s published accounts do not yet cover the entire period of the contracts we considered, but they already show how Randox has substantially increased its profits and expanded its business since the start of the pandemic. Randox reported...
Matched on
terms: contract, government
Committee recommendation
86match
#37 - 1st Report - Rewiring the state: Delivering digital government
The promised cloud consumption dashboard should include not only a breakdown of contract awards by company but their value, details of any break clauses, specific licensing terms and a value for money assessment. The government should require public bodies to publish the value of individual cloud contracts within three months of their being awarded. (Recommendation, Paragraph 109) 55
Matched on
terms: contract, government, value
Committee recommendation
86match
#36 - 1st Report - Rewiring the state: Delivering digital government
The public sector’s dependence on AWS and Microsoft’s cloud products undermines fair competition, fails to deliver value for money, can prevent domestic alternatives from scaling and—when outages occur—exposes a lack of resilience. The government is rightly seeking to coordinate cloud contracting, but this should be done in such a way as to ensure more, not less, competition. (Conclusion,...
Matched on
terms: contract, government, value
Committee recommendation
81match
#7 - 2nd Report - AI and creative technology scaleups: less talk, more action
The Government must ensure that its initiatives aimed at enabling technology companies to grow make a material improvement to the UK’s innovation ecosystem, as well as providing value for money for the taxpayer. Schemes that are duplicative, or fail to achieve desired outcomes, should be wound down. We caution strongly against the introduction of further schemes or interventions,...
Matched on
terms: government, taxpayer, value
Committee recommendation
81match
#31 - 1st Report - An analysis of the asylum system
We questioned the Home Office specifically on how it would use excess profit clauses within its cost-plus hotel contracts. The Home Office accepted that “in general”, cost-plus contracts do not represent good value for the taxpayer and acknowledged the risk that providers could earn higher margins under such models.81 However, when we raised concerns about the obscene profits...
Matched on
terms: contract, taxpayer, value
Committee recommendation
81match
#3 - Fifteenth Report - Improving the prison estate
In 2015, the Ministry failed to protect taxpayers’ interests through its naïve approach to the outsourcing of facilities management services. The Ministry admits that its approach prioritised delivering at speed and achieving predicted £79 million in cost savings at the expense of the quality of the service provided. It outsourced a complex service without fully understanding what it...
Matched on
terms: contract, government, taxpayer
Committee recommendation
81match
#26 - Fourth Report - Defence in Scotland: military shipbuilding
The MOD should set out how it evaluates social value in competitions, how it measures the delivery of social value in the contracts it negotiates, and how it holds contractors accountable to ensure they meet those targets. It should also, as contracts progress, track the delivery of social value and challenge contractors where targets are in danger of...
Matched on
terms: contract, government, value
Committee recommendation
78match
#39 - 1st Report - Rewiring the state: Delivering digital government
In its response to this report the government should detail how the ‘All of Government’ cloud contract will prevent vendor lock-in. It should set out the engagement it has had with the Competition and Markets Authority on the development of the contract, and how the contract will embed a pro-competition approach to cloud procurement. (Recommendation, Paragraph 111) Barrier...
Matched on
terms: contract, government
Committee recommendation
78match
#3 - 1st Report - Rewiring the state: Delivering digital government
Delivering successful digital transformation will require a new approach to digital and technology spend, underpinned by clear standards, approval processes, and lines of accountability. The current approach to funding, whereby it is easier to secure capital funding than resource, public sector organisations are limited in their ability to secure funds for ‘as a service’ products, and inefficient buying...
Matched on
terms: contract, government
Committee recommendation
77match
#30 - 1st Report - An analysis of the asylum system
We also asked the Home Office about its approach to commercial incentives. The NAO had reported gaps in current contract performance information and the Home Affairs Committee found that providers faced few performance penalties and, in some cases, had incentives to prioritise higher-cost hotel accommodation. The Home Office said that it had strengthened monitoring of high-value subcontractors, supported...
Matched on
terms: contract, taxpayer, value
NAO recommendation
77match
The government’s approach to test and trace in England – interim report
f) take account to the maximum extent possible of value for money and normal commercial good practice as it procures new infrastructure and services. In particular, it needs to have sufficient flexibility in future contracts to allow government and contractors to respond effectively to changing requirements at reasonable cost; and
Matched on
terms: contract, government, value
Committee recommendation
74match
#54 - 1st Report - Rewiring the state: Delivering digital government
If external suppliers are deemed necessary to support the development or implementation of the new digital ID, no contracts relating to the development or implementation of the new digital ID should be awarded without a competitive tender process, and all contracts should be published in full. The government should announce the decision to use external suppliers to Parliament...
Matched on
terms: contract, government
Committee recommendation
74match
#32 - 1st Report - Rewiring the state: Delivering digital government
In its response to this report the government should set out the reasons for awarding a £240 million Ministry of Defence contract to Palantir without a competitive tender process. (Recommendation, Paragraph 98)
Matched on
terms: contract, government
Committee recommendation
74match
#31 - 1st Report - Rewiring the state: Delivering digital government
The government should commit to wherever possible using UK-owned and UK-based suppliers to develop and implement the NHS Single Patient Record, and to awarding all associated contracts via open and transparent procurement processes. (Recommendation, Paragraph 97)
Matched on
terms: contract, government
Committee recommendation
69match
#23 - 4th Report - Homecare medicines services: an opportunity lost
As part of a review of homecare medicines services, the Government should work with procurement specialists, the National Audit Office, and the Competition and Markets Authority to identify barriers to competition and effective procurement in the homecare medicines market. They should agree actions to ensure procurement by the NHS or medicines manufacturers achieves value for money.
Matched on
terms: government, value
Inquiry recommendation
69match
RHI-31 - Value for Money Priority
Any imperative to spend a budget within a given timeframe should not be allowed to take precedence over how that budget is used and the longer term benefits and overall value of such expenditure. Ministers, Special Advisers and the Northern Ireland Civil Service all share responsibility for ensuring best practice in the use of taxpayers' money.
Matched on
terms: taxpayer, value
NAO recommendation
69match
Investigation into government procurement during the COVID-19 pandemic
Awarding bodies should publish basic information on contracts in a reasonable time, in line with guidance to publish within 90 days of award. Transparency is one of the key controls to mitigate the risks associated with emergency direct awards. Therefore, during these types of situation, it is critical that basic information on contract awards is published as soon...
Matched on
terms: contract, government
Committee recommendation
66match
#33 - 1st Report - Rewiring the state: Delivering digital government
The best way for government to encourage innovation is by procuring it. The government should therefore require central departments and public bodies to spend a defined minimum percentage of their technology procurement budgets on products offered by UK-based and UK-owned start-ups and SMEs by the end of the current Spending Review period, and to publish quarterly updates on...
Matched on
terms: government
Committee recommendation
66match
#5 - 1st Report - Rewiring the state: Delivering digital government
The new Government Digital Service (GDS) should develop and publish a comprehensive framework to evaluate the performance of digital spend, to include a set of metrics against which leaders of departments and public bodies can be held to account. The government should require each department and public body to publish annual progress reports against this framework. (Recommendation, Paragraph...
Matched on
terms: government
Committee recommendation
66match
#4 - 1st Report - Rewiring the state: Delivering digital government
By the end of the current Spending Review period a meaningfully higher percentage of digital and technology spend should come from departmental resource budgets, as opposed to capital budgets, in order to better reflect the reality of modern public service delivery. We suggest a target of 75%, up from an estimated 43–46% in 2021. GDS and the Treasury...
Matched on
terms: government
Committee recommendation
65match
#14 - 4th Report - Homecare medicines services: an opportunity lost
The Government does not know how much money is spent on homecare medicines services. It is therefore impossible to make any assessment on value for money. Given that the figure is most likely several billion pounds per year, this lack of awareness is shocking and entirely unacceptable.
Matched on
terms: government, value
Committee recommendation
65match
#195 - 1st Report - Cutting crime: better community sentences
The Ministry of Justice should seize the upcoming wave of commissioning as an opportunity to apply lessons from the past two years. More funding should be allocated, especially to womenâs centres and for housing. Contracts should be longer to protect the Probation Serviceâs partners, but subject to termination clauses to protect the taxpayer. More flexibility should be built...
Matched on
terms: contract, taxpayer
Committee recommendation
65match
#16 - Fifteenth Report - Improving the prison estate
One of the consequences of the Ministry not understanding its assets prior to letting the contracts was that demand for reactive maintenance work as a result of poor-quality assets or vandalism cost the taxpayer almost £143 million more than expected between 2015–16 and the first half of 2019–20.32 We asked why it had taken HMPPS so long to...
Matched on
terms: contract, taxpayer
Committee recommendation
65match
#15 - Fifteenth Report - Improving the prison estate
Following Carillion’s collapse in January 2018, the Ministry established Gov Facility Services Limited (GFSL), a not-for-profit government company, to assume responsibility for its work.29 The Ministry told us that its contract with Carillion was “a mess” and badly managed.30 It explained that it had known that its contract with Carillion was going “badly wrong” and it had looked...
Matched on
terms: contract, government
Committee recommendation
65match
#4 - Fortieth Report - COVID employment support schemes
HMRC’s decision to close the Taxpayer Protection Taskforce in 2023–24 puts at risk the recovery of taxpayers’ money paid out as a result of error and fraud. In April 2021, HMRC set up the Taxpayer Protection Taskforce as a dedicated team of over 1,000 staff to increase its recovery of overpayments on the COVID-19 employment support schemes and...
Matched on
terms: government, taxpayer
GIRFT recommendation
65match
Breast Surgery
Enable improved procurement of devices and consumables through cost and pricing transparency, aggregation and consolidation, and by sharing best practice. a) Use sources of procurement data, such as Spend Comparison Service and relevant clinical data, to identify optimum value for money procurement choices, considering both outcomes and cost/price. b) Identify opportunities for improved value for money, including the...
Matched on
terms: value
NAO recommendation
64match
Improving the performance of major equipment contracts
c) The Department should be prepared to penalise suppliers for past poor performance when letting new contracts. While the Department is doing more to improve working relationships with suppliers, there remains the challenge of what to do if suppliers fail to deliver. In the government green paper on procurement it is proposing to make it easier to exclude...
Matched on
terms: contract, government
Committee recommendation
62match
#11 - 15th Report - Government's intervention in British Steel Ltd
The Department had spent £15 million on advisers by January 2026. It said it had benefited from the expert legal and technical advice and had used advisers to fill capability gaps in British Steel. While the main funding was classed as a debt, there is no formal loan agreement in place, and it is not apparent that British...
Matched on
terms: government
Committee recommendation
62match
#45 - 1st Report - Rewiring the state: Delivering digital government
The government should use its promised update to the Procurement Act 2023 to require public sector bodies to prioritise open-source tools and technology over proprietary offerings, to support innovative alternatives to incumbent suppliers and reduce the risk of vendor lock-in. (Recommendation, Paragraph 126)
Matched on
terms: government
Committee recommendation
62match
#44 - 1st Report - Rewiring the state: Delivering digital government
Building sovereign alternatives to US tech providers will require targeted support for start-ups in strategic sectors; a robust approach to competition policy that does not shy away from confrontation with incumbent firms but instead supports the development of a diverse ecosystem of providers; and establishing technology and digital procurement targets that build a more diverse and competitive landscape....
Matched on
terms: government
Committee recommendation
62match
#34 - 1st Report - Rewiring the state: Delivering digital government
We believe that vendor lock-in should not be viewed as inevitable, and that dependence on a small number of suppliers does not automatically lead to better delivery of public services or better use of public money. (Conclusion, Paragraph 106)
Matched on
terms: government
Committee recommendation
62match
#26 - 1st Report - Rewiring the state: Delivering digital government
In its response to this report the government should set out how it intends to ensure that the public sector makes better use of the services provided by Crown Hosting. (Recommendation, Paragraph 81) Barrier three: Vendor lock-in
Matched on
terms: government
GIRFT recommendation
61match
Vascular Surgery
Enable improved procurement of devices and consumables through cost and pricing transparency, aggregation and consolidation, and the spreading of best practice. 16A: GIRFT to work closely with sources of procurement data such as PPIB and relevant clinical data to identify optimum value for money procurement choices, considering both outcomes and cost/price. 16B: GIRFT to identify opportunities for improved...
Matched on
terms: value
GIRFT recommendation
61match
Urology
Enable improved procurement of devices and consumables through cost and pricing transparency, aggregation and consolidation, and the spreading of best practice. 17A: GIRFT to work closely with sources of procurement data such as PPIB and PLICS, and use relevant clinical data to identify optimum value for money procurement choices, considering both outcomes and cost/price. 17B: GIRFT to identify...
Matched on
terms: value
GIRFT recommendation
61match
Paediatric Trauma and Orthopaedic Surgery
Enable improved procurement of devices and consumables through cost and pricing transparency, aggregation and consolidation, and by sharing best practice. a Use sources of procurement data, such as SCS and relevant clinical data, to identify optimum value for money procurement choices, considering both outcomes and cost/price. b Identify opportunities for improved value for money, including the development of...
Matched on
terms: value
GIRFT recommendation
61match
Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery
Enable improved procurement of devices and consumables through cost and pricing transparency, aggregation and consolidation, and by sharing best practice. 15a: Use sources of procurement data, such as Purchase Price Index and Benchmarking tool (PPIB) and relevant clinical data, to identify optimum value for money procurement choices, considering both outcomes and cost/price. 15b: Identify opportunities for improved value...
Matched on
terms: value
GIRFT recommendation
61match
Maternity and Gynaecology
Enable improved procurement of devices and consumables through cost and pricing transparency, aggregation and consolidation, and by sharing best practice. a) GIRFT to use sources of procurement data, such as the NHS Spend Comparison Service and relevant clinical data, to identify optimum value for money procurement choices, considering both outcomes and cost/price. b) GIRFT to identify opportunities for...
Matched on
terms: value
GIRFT recommendation
61match
Hospital Dentistry
Enable improved procurement of devices and consumables through cost and pricing transparency, aggregation and consolidation, and by sharing best practice. a Use sources of procurement data, such as the NHS Spend Comparison Service and relevant clinical data, to identify optimum value for money procurement choices, considering both outcomes and cost/price. b Identify opportunities for improved value for money,...
Matched on
terms: value
GIRFT recommendation
61match
Gastroenterology
Enable improved procurement of devices and consumables through cost and pricing transparency, aggregation and consolidation, and by sharing best practice. a) Use sources of procurement data, such as Spend Comparison Services and relevant clinical data, to identify optimum value for money procurement choices, considering both outcomes and cost/price. b) Identify opportunities for improved value for money, including the...
Matched on
terms: value
GIRFT recommendation
61match
Endocrinology
Enable improved procurement of devices and consumables through cost and pricing transparency, aggregation and consolidation, and by sharing best practice. a Use sources of procurement data, such as the NHS Spend Comparison Service and relevant clinical data, to identify optimum value for money procurement choices, considering both outcomes and cost/price. b Identify opportunities for improved value for money,...
Matched on
terms: value
GIRFT recommendation
61match
Dermatology
Enable improved procurement of devices and consumables through cost and pricing transparency, aggregation and consolidation, and by sharing best practice. a Use sources of procurement data, such as the NHS Spend Comparison Service and relevant clinical data, to identify optimum value for money procurement choices, considering both outcomes and cost/price. b Identify opportunities for improved value for money,...
Matched on
terms: value
GIRFT recommendation
61match
Cranial Neurosurgery
Enable improved procurement of devices and consumables through cost and pricing transparency, aggregation and consolidation, and the spreading of best practice. 14A: GIRFT to work closely with sources of procurement data such as PPIB and relevant clinical data to identify optimum value for money procurement choices, considering both outcomes and cost/price. 14B: GIRFT to identify opportunities for improved...
Matched on
terms: value
Inquiry recommendation
60match
COVID-M5.10 - Transparency, Governance and Accountability in Emergencies
The UK government, Scottish Government, Welsh Government and Northern Ireland Executive should improve transparency, governance and accountability for procurement in an emergency. As a minimum, these improvements should include the following: Enhancing transparency Any central digital platform used for procurement must allow for the automated collation of contract information and must reduce the administrative burden involved in publishing...
Matched on
terms: contract, government
Committee recommendation
57match
#28 - 1st Report - An analysis of the asylum system
The NAO, Public Accounts Committee and Home Affairs Select Committee have each identified longstanding weaknesses in how the Home Office manages its asylum accommodation contracts. The NAO’s May 2025 briefing found that projected spending under the asylum accommodation and support contracts had risen from £4.5 billion to £15.3 billion, and highlighted that hotels accounted for 76% of annual...
Matched on
terms: contract
Committee recommendation
57match
#6 - 1st Report - An analysis of the asylum system
The Home Office has not demonstrated it has the commercial capabilities needed to manage asylum accommodation effectively. Managing asylum accommodation at scale requires strong in-house commercial expertise to oversee complex contracts, manage risks, and monitor provider performance. However, both the previous Public Accounts Committee and the Home Affairs Committee have repeatedly identified significant weaknesses in the Home Office’s...
Matched on
terms: contract
GIRFT recommendation
57match
Renal Medicine
Ensure that procurement of HD facilities and home therapies delivered in partnership with the independent sector offers consistent quality and cost-effectiveness across the NHS in England. a) Minimum specification contracts to be developed for independent sector HD and managed equipment service facilities, with scope for local flexibility. Contracts to include framework for price and clinical governance arrangements. b)...
Matched on
terms: contract
GIRFT recommendation
56match
Paediatric General Surgery and Urology
Enable improved procurement of devices and consumables through cost and pricing transparency, aggregation and consolidation, and by sharing best practice. a GIRFT to use sources of procurement data, such as SCS and relevant clinical data, to identify optimum value for money procurement choices, considering both outcomes and cost/price. b GIRFT to identify opportunities for improved value for money,...
Matched on
terms: value
GIRFT recommendation
56match
Ophthalmology
Enable improved procurement of equipment and devices through: cost and pricing transparency; aggregation and consolidation; the spreading of best practice; encouraging trusts to purchase all of their lenses through NHS Supply Chain; and reducing the unwarranted variation in procedure and instrument packs across the NHS. Actions: a) GIRFT to work closely with sources of procurement data such as...
Matched on
terms: value
GIRFT recommendation
56match
Adult Critical Care
Enable improved procurement of devices and consumables through cost and pricing transparency, aggregation and consolidation, and by sharing best practice. a Use sources of procurement data, such as SCS and relevant clinical data, to identify optimum value for money procurement choices, considering both outcomes and cost/price. b Identify opportunities for improved value for money, including the development of...
Matched on
terms: value
Inquiry recommendation
56match
RHI-16 - Third Party Governance
Where other government bodies, such as Ofgem, or contractors or other third parties are involved in the implementation of a project, the 'home' Department must retain overall control and overall project management. The governance arrangement between the Northern Ireland Department and the third party must be owned and led at a senior level in the Department.
Matched on
terms: contract, government