Future Shape of the Council: The Flaws in Barnet’s Commissioning and Procurement Policy

The Future Shape of the Council project is likely to consider large-scale outsourcing/privatisation to ‘shrink the council’, yet there are serious failings and shortcomings in procurement which make its policies and practice ‘not fit for purpose’. This could expose the Council to serious financial and service risks. The report is published by UNISON, GMB, NUT and NASUWT and makes a series of recommendations on commissioning and procurement, employment options and contract management and monitoring.