The NAO’s latest report Efficiency in government procurement of common goods and services (nao.org.uk), sheds much needed transparency on the relationship between commissions, fees and value for money in public procurement. The public sector spent £393 billion, or 14.8% of GDP on goods and services in 2022-23, of which around £125 billion is for common goods and services which are items that may also routinely bought by businesses. The government procured 72% of its large contracts through frameworks in 2021-22 compared to 43% in 2018-19. Some framework operators charge commissions as high as 5-6% are levied, far greater than the average rate of 0.7% levied by the government’s largest purchasing authority Crown Commercial Service (CCS). The NAO’s report identifies six ways the government could tackle some of these issues and save taxpayers money, including: enhancing competition within frameworks; establishing an accreditation regime for framework providers, with few frameworks overall; reducing levies charged on purchases; greater rivalry between framework providers; better data and greater transparency to improve decisions; and system leadership by the CCS for the procurement of common goods and services
