The Civil Service is one of the biggest and most complex employers in the UK, employing over 400,000 Civil Servants serving both Ministers and the public to deliver the priorities of the Government of the day. These include major projects with a lifecycle cost of around £500bn, as well as programmes and services that affect everyone in the United Kingdom. The annual spend is c. £70bn per annum with a range of suppliers including SMEs.
Following issues with some major contracts and key suppliers a number of years ago, the Civil Service committed itself to dramatically improving its commercial performance. This has included establishing a Commercial Function that will operate with, and in support of, departments. A senior Government Chief Commercial Officer was appointed from the private sector to head up the Commercial Function. This coincided with the first set of Commercial Standards published for the government in February 2016, updated in May 2022, which we now benchmark against, and the suite of ‘Playbooks’ co-developed with industry to drive improved outcomes for all stakeholders.
Commercial resources overseen by the Function number some 6,000 staff across Whitehall, and consist of:
- A number of core interlocking central teams working together on Policy, Standards and Continuous Improvement, Complex Transactions, Markets and Suppliers (building pan-government relationships with key suppliers)
- Commercial Capability Colleagues in the Commercial Directorates within Departments and Agencies
- The Crown Commercial Service, a trading fund sourcing common goods and services for the Civil Service and the wider public sector, managing spend of circa £30bn in 2022/2023