This good practice guidance reflects upon findings and recommendations drawn from 200 reports concerning 300 commercial arrangements that have been published over the past 20 years.
This guide focuses on how to maximise value, common pitfalls to avoid and questions to consider when planning and managing the use of consultants.
In this report we share lessons to help the government maximise the value it achieves from its use of consultants.
The Ministry of Defence could make significant savings if it better managed its losses from fraud and other forms of economic crime.
Public sector bodies could avoid £500 million in costs over five years if they improve how they procure common goods and services.
Government can save significant sums of time and money by improving how it engages with technology suppliers.
This report examines whether government has mechanisms in place to understand and encourage competition in public procurement, and how government departments can make their use of competition more effective.
Our Commercial Insights team are experts on the government’s commercial work, regulation and contract management.
The NHS is not making the most of its spending power to save money in purchasing medical equipment and consumables.
Public bodies should demonstrate robust, independent oversight of both their contractual arrangements and overall commercial portfolios
This investigation examines the British Steel Pension Scheme.
Last December, the government published a Green Paper on Transforming Public Procurement. It stressed that investments should be subject to consideration of the public good, including supporting national priorities. It discussed leveraging commercial activity to achieve social and environmental value. For our good practice guidance for managing the commercial lifecycle, we examined similar opportunities and […]
The NAO’s work includes looking at a huge range of government activities, and the setting up and managing of commercial arrangements are central to many of them. This became very clear when looking back at twenty years of our work auditing government’s spending and reporting on its value for money for taxpayers. Over this time, […]
At the National Audit Office, we come across many business cases when looking at government programmes. A strong business case is vital for effective decision making and for successfully delivering intended outcomes. The foundation of a business case is a clear understanding of what success will look like for a programme – the strategic case. […]
Government departments are making plans for achieving substantial efficiency savings by 2024-25, but what might this mean in practice?
Since the COVID-19 pandemic began, the NAO’s role has been to provide Parliament and the public with evidence-based reports on how public money has been used to tackle the crisis. So far we have published 12 reports on different elements of the pandemic response, including for example the test and trace programme; the procurement of […]
This report looks at backlogs and waiting times for elective and cancer care in the NHS in England.
This study examines whether the Ministry of Defence’s Equipment Plan provides a reliable assessment of the affordability of the MoD’s equipment programmes over the next ten years.
This report is a detailed review of government contracts let to Randox between January 2020 and December 2021.
This investigation examines DHSC’s performance in managing PPE contracts. It is a factual account of what has happened since November 2020.