The Ada Lovelace Institute has called for the creation of a national taskforce to support the procurement of AI technology in local government.
It has made the recommendation in a new report on the issue, Spending Wisely, based on its research into how procurement of AI is working in the sector.
The report notes the UK Government’s enthusiasm for using AI in public services and says procurement decisions will be crucial in ensuring the technologies are used in legitimate, safe and effective manners.
But local government faces a number of barriers to effective procurement, including the lack of specific guidance on AI in the new Procurement Act, the lack of consensus on terms and conditions, gaps and inconsistencies in how to describe the expected social benefits, and a lack of advice on how to implement information in existing guidance documents.
In regard to the latter, there is no standard approach for prioritising competing demands such as value for money, social value, impact assessments or transparency.
Expert group
In response, the report advocates the creation of a national taskforce, a fixed term body bringing together experts from across the public and private sectors to develop and test practical solutions.
It recommends a number of priorities for the group, including gathering evidence on and setting metrics for AI procurement by local authorities, ensuring the regulatory and legislative documents are clear and consistent, and creating robust governance structures, contract templates and assessment frameworks to strengthen councils’ bargaining positions.
In addition, it should design and recommend a suite of AI-specific skills and training for local government procurement bodies.
These measures would lay the ground for joined up reforms rather than siloed or piecemeal changes, the report says.
Transformation held back
Imogen Parker, associate director at the institute, said: “The responsible use of AI in the public sector has to start with getting procurement right. However, recent examples such as the Post Office’s Horizon have raised questions about how equipped the public sector is to procure new technologies like AI.
“Our research confirms these concerns first-hand and paints a picture of a procurement landscape that is holding local government back from using the transformative potential of AI to deliver genuine benefits for people and society.
“Private sector technologies are rapidly being rolled out across the public sector, but without a joined up approach and with little oversight or transparency.
“This is why we’re calling for a national taskforce to bring together a broad cross-section of perspectives and expertise to help deliver urgent reforms that will ensure local government procurement is fit for the AI era.”
Burden and barriers
Mavis Machirori, senior researcher at the institute and lead author of the report, said: “Our research reveals the enormous burden and barriers currently being faced by local government when trying to procure AI systems.
“If we want to use AI in the public sector to deliver real world benefits for people and society, then we need to urgently turn our attention towards procurement as a key part of this ambitious agenda.
“The AI moment we are living through demands a serious rethink of how the public sector procures and deploys private sector innovation in the public interest, which is why we are calling for a National Taskforce to drive urgent reforms.”
The Ada Lovelace Institute works on ensuring that AI and data work for the good of people and society.
