Inventory of policy interventions for innovation-oriented procurement

On behalf of PIANOo (the Procurement Expertise Centre), Dialogic has investigated which interventions governments can use to stimulate innovation-oriented procurement, both within their own organisations and at regional or national levels. The following six archetypes of policy interventions (in random order) are central to the study:

1. Providing information and support, and encouraging networking among public contracting authorities.
2. Offering central (co-)financing to (decentralised) public contracting authorities for innovation-oriented procurement.
3. Setting procurement budget targets.
4. Developing innovation agendas and roadmaps by public contracting authorities.
5. Encouraging innovation-minded behaviour among executives 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 potential benefits can be achieved (such as resolving issues)? We also highlight key implementation considerations for each of the interventions. The findings in the report are based on desk research, some interviews with stakeholders in 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 different interventions to stimulate innovation-oriented procurement are diverse. Firstly, the scope varies significantly per intervention (whether regional or national, sector-specific, tailored to a particular organisation, or individual civil servant). Secondly, we note that the interventions do not operate in splendid isolation. For example, developing an innovation agenda provides a framework to which other interventions (support, networking, etc.) can be added. We also observe that the first archetype (information and support) is a prerequisite for every archetype: co-financing, innovation agendas, and target percentages lose effectiveness if public contracting authorities lack knowledge. We therefore see that co-financing is almost always accompanied by process support. The full details of the different policy interventions can be found here.