BREXIT – PROCUREMENT IMPLICATIONS
We are all sated with Brexit and Remain. The whole process hasn’t lacked media exposure. We haven’t seen anything aimed at the impact the final decision will have on procurement. Let us assume the verdict is to leave the EU. There is an argument that this will rid procurement of the regulatory environment of EU Regulations. Have these added anything positive to public procurement? Despite the huge cost of compliance with the Regulations and the huge cost of the industry of PQQ’s and ITT’s, there hasn’t been any significant shift in the value of work leaving the home country’s shores. There has, of course, been a massive benefit to law firms appealing against contract award decisions. Public procurement would not, in our opinion, be undermined by abandoning EU Regulations. These could be replaced by a modified set of guidance procedures that were adopted by central and local government. There would be an immediate benefit of reducing timescales for a procurement process. It would also reduce the cost of tendering for the private sector.
There will, hopefully, be some procurement strategists examining the currency implications if Brexit was to be the decision. There have been dire consequences predicted if Brexit were to prevail. Those organisations with existing contracts or proposed contracts are well advised to assume the worst scenario and financially plan accordingly. Who knows what would happen to the Euro? The fact is no one knows.
Procurement specialists will be very interested in the impact on trade blocs. Will there be major opportunities for new deals with the USA, New Zealand, Australia, South Africa and China. We cannot imagine that any of these countries will cut off their nose to spite their face. Neither can we imagine that the other EU members will refuse to trade with the UK, specifically because they sell more to the UK than we sell to them. There will be a period of adjustment. We predict that if Brexit were to be the answer, the doom merchants will have exaggerated their case.
If you are reading between the lines of this article you may be predicting that the author is for Brexit. He is definitely in favour of procurement taking a strategic initiative and planning for all eventualities.
