Policy interventions to stimulate innovation-oriented procurement

Commissioned by PIANOo (the Procurement Expertise Centre), Dialogic has researched which interventions governments can use to stimulate innovation-oriented procurement, both within their own organisation and regionally or nationally. The following six archetypes of policy interventions (in random order) are central to the study:

1. Providing information and support to encourage networking among public contracting authorities.
2. Offering central (co)financing to (decentralised) public contracting authorities for innovation-oriented procurement.
3. Setting targets for procurement budgets.
4. Developing innovation agendas and roadmaps by public contracting authorities.
5. Promoting innovation-minded behaviour among board members and civil servants.
6. Innovation brokerage.

We describe the various ways to implement each type of policy intervention. We use examples from the United States, the United Kingdom, Norway, Spain, Finland, Austria, Sweden, and Flanders. Additionally, we discuss the potential application of the policy intervention in the Dutch context: what are the considerations, what efforts are required, and what are the potential outcomes (in terms of addressing bottlenecks)? We also highlight key points for implementing each of the interventions. The findings presented in the report are based on desk research, a few interviews with stakeholders from foreign examples, and a discussion session with employees from the Ministry of Justice and Security, Ministry of Defence, Rijkswaterstaat, and ProRail who are involved in innovation-oriented procurement within their organisations.

We conclude that the various interventions to stimulate innovation-oriented procurement are diverse. Firstly, the scope varies greatly for each intervention (regional or national, focused on a sector, a specific organisation, or individual civil servants). Secondly, we note that the interventions do not function in splendid isolation. For example, developing an innovation agenda provides a framework under which other interventions (support, networking, etc.) can be integrated. We also observe that the first archetype (information and support) is a prerequisite for any archetype: co-financing, innovation agendas, and target percentages lose their effectiveness if the public contracting authority lacks knowledge. Therefore, we often see that co-financing is almost always accompanied by process support.

The full elaboration of the various policy interventions can be found here. Want to learn more? Please contact Tessa Groot Beumer.