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‘Social value’ procurement rules are an absurd waste of time and money

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Thursday 06 August 2026 5:38 am  |  Updated:  Wednesday 05 August 2026 5:49 pm

‘Social good’ procurement rules are an absurd waste of time and money

By: Christian May

Editor-in-Chief

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Major construction projects like HS2 are engulfed in red tape

Procurement is not a sexy topic, but stay with me here. The public sector spends around £400bn a year buying goods and services from the private sector. You can imagine the scale: NHS equipment and Ministry of Defence gear, police cars and IT infrastructure, immigration processing centres, security guards, construction projects and fax machines.

It’s big business, and up until around 2012 spending decisions and contract awards were based firmly on cost and capacity........

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