Rikesh Shah, head of the Innovation Procurement Empowerment Centre (IPEC, part of the Connected Catapult) talks to the UKA Live Podcast about how the now in force Procurement Act 2023 opens up opportunities to use procurement to drive innovation.
The UK public sector spends over £380bn annually on goods and services, but as public sector budgets are increasingly strained and demand for services increases there is never enough. Innovation in the solutions to public sector problems is key – the sector needs to become more innovative in how it buys, and focus on the outcomes needed rather than replacing ‘like for like’.
IPEC was created to explore how procurement can be harnessed to drive innovation and value for money under the new Act.
I asked Rikesh Shah, the centre’s head, how local authorities and other public bodies can do this:
- What do we mean by innovation? And why is innovation often delivered through use of digital, data and technology?
- Why do we need to get better at buying innovative solutions to public sector problems?
- Why has procuring innovation been traditionally hard to do in the public sector? What are the main barriers?
- What opportunities does the Procurement Act bring?
- How can IPEC help local authorities and other public sector organisations to get better at procuring innovation?
Coming up next: a deep dive into two key resources to help you unlock innovation in public procurement and an in-depth look at one of the Councils that joined IPEC's innovation Cohort:
- Procuring Innovation Playbook - created by IPEC with lawyers Mills & Reeve
- A Practical Guide to Pre-Market Engagement - created by IPEC with procurement specialists Gardiner & Theobald
- Westminster’s journey with IPEC – The council joined last year’s Cohort to explore how they could harness procurement to procure and deliver an innovative solution to help improve air quality from the numerous commercial cooking operations in its area.
Further info:
- Sentiment Analysis 2025 questionnaire: https://ortuser.co.uk/ipec-survey
- Sentiment Analysis 2024 findings: https://www.ipec.org.uk/news/sentiment-analysis2/
- Procuring innovation playbook: https://www.ipec.org.uk/resource/procuring-innovation-playbook/
- Pre market engagement guide: https://www.ipec.org.uk/resource/a-practical-guide-to-pre-market-engagement/
