Local Authority Contracts - What The Private Sector Needs To Know

The public sector has radically changed its approach to procuring goods and services from third-party suppliers. There are now huge opportunities for the private sector to work with local authorities to improve the delivery of public services. But to succeed in this any private sector organisation needs to understand, and respond positively to, the context in which local authorities operate and, in particular, to understand the criteria against which value for money in the public sector is judged.

The outsourcing of any local authority function will, very likely, be subject to the public procurement rules which apply to contracts where the value exceeds certain financial thresholds. (An authority cannot avoid the application of the rules simply by dividing a contract into several smaller lots.)