Kate Wansbrough-Jones, associate in construction and engineering at law firm Taylor Wessing, says she thinks the Comprehensive Spending Review could be good for public procurement:

___

How will the outcome of the Comprehensive Spending Review affect public procurement?

The obvious answer is that there will be less work to pitch for and competition will increase for the projects that are available. It’s conceivable that, in an effort to keep costs to a minimum, the quality of specification requested by the local authorities or provided by the contractors will be reduced. This is already happening in other areas such as IT.

Will the life expectancy of whatever is being built be compromised and will we be paying for short cuts made now in our buildings and infrastructure in 10 years time?

It will be interesting to see how critically local authorities will look at other factors which are increasing in importance in their tenders. Despite the economic climate, it’s now not feasible for successful tenders to be solely price-driven, despite what many contractors think.

Given government targets in a number of areas, factors which are traditionally not thought of as assisting in cost-cutting measures for construction companies – such as the increasing dominance of sustainability and energy efficiency in the public arena – must continue to play a growing role.

Although it is easy for both local authorities and contractors alike to view the  Comprehensive Spending Review as negative, there will be some positive outcomes.

Having fewer projects to administer and, as is likely, a smaller workforce gives local authorities a great opportunity to review and streamline their internal processes. If this opportunity is taken effectively, this could have a knock-on effect of cutting contractor’s costs at tender.

The presence of greater competition in tenders may also be an opportunity for the government to progress other social agendas. They could, for example, impose higher targets of affordable housing in mixed use and residential projects.

• Spending Review: Osborne overhauls council spending powers
• Blog: call for creative, collaborative procurement
• Spending Review: Cabinet Office to get tough on departments
• Blog: The spending cuts aren’t a north/south divide
• Spending Review: Osborne reveals 60% cut to schools projects