The UK public sector spends somewhere between £300 billion and a trillion. A lot of that goes through public procurement processes.

That creates enormous innovation potential.

Yet, being honest, the words “public sector procurement” aren’t seen as synonyms for innovation.

This week, the new Procurement Act 2023 comes into force, so it seems a good time to stop and look at why public sector procurement is a challenge and what can be done about it.

My guest is a former colleague. I knew Rikesh Shah when he was a colleague as Head of Open Innovation at Transport for London, but now he heads up the Government’s Innovation Procurement Empowerment Centre.

In this conversation, we discuss how cultural barriers, such as fear of failure, hinder innovation in procurement and the barriers startups face in selling to the public sector.

Rikesh talks me through how the new Procurement Act introduces pre-market engagement as a requirement and he emphasises the benefits of a process called the Competitive Flexible Procedure.

Above all, though, it’s about the need for public sector organisations to embrace experimentation and iteration.