Levelling Up: what's the procurement picture?

Levelling Up: what's the procurement picture?

Posted by James Piggott Picture of James Piggott on Sep 27, 2022 11:51:57 AM
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'Levelling Up' was one of the flagship policies of the Johnson administration. Through a variety of newly introduced funds, programmes and schemes, the policy sought to address historic economic and social inequalities between regions of the UK. As the Government’s Executive Summary of the policy put it:

“While talent is spread equally across our country, opportunity is not. Levelling up is a mission to challenge, and change, that unfairness.”

Since its first official announcement in the Conservative’s 2019 General Election manifesto, Central and Local Government bodies have awarded a number of contract awards pursuant to the Levelling Up agenda's aims.

In this blog, we've harnessed Tussell's market intelligence platform to look at three of the key strands of the Levelling Up policy to unpick how these policies have filtered down to public procurement, which authorities are taking action, and which suppliers have helped supply them.

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If you're interested in learning more about how procurement spend is spread regionally across England, check out our report from last year.

 

Gigabit rollout

One of the flagship ambitions of the Levelling Up agenda has been the rollout of gigabit speed internet across the UK, namely via a £5 billion fund provided under Project Gigabit.

From Q1 2019 to the end of Q2 2022, contracting authorities awarded at least 37 gigabit rollout-related contracts, worth £372 million.*

 

Gigabit Contract Awards

*  This analysis was conducted using a search of contract keywords, including: "Project Gigabit", "Shared Rural Network Deal", "Gigabit", "Full fibre", "Full-fibre", "Gigabit-capable"; the search excluded irrelavant keywords.

A hefty chunk of this total award value stems from a single £200 million 'Project Stratum' contract by the Department of Education in late 2021, for the provision of gigabit-capable internet infrastructure across Northern Ireland, awarded to Belfast-based telecoms provider Fibrus Networks Ltd.

Some of the most frequent procurers of gigabit-related works and services include the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, Leeds City Council, and Colchester Borough Council, all of whom awarded 3 or more contracts in this area over the period.

Excluding Fibrus Networks, the top suppliers of gigabit-related contracts - by total contract award value - are: †

Some notable gigabit-related contract awards have included:

 

North Yorkshire Local Full Fibre Network Project

Contracting authority: North Yorkshire County Council

Award date: August 2019

Award value: £50 million

Supplier: SCD Group Ltd

This sizeable contract was awarded to deliver gigabit-capable fibre infrastructure to conurbations and market towns throughout North Yorkshire. Initially awarded at £15.1 million, the contract is earmarked for a potential expansion to £50 million "for further expansion in North Yorkshire and potentially the surrounding environs".

 

LCRCA Digital Infrastructure Project

Contracting authority: Liverpool City Region Combined Authority

Award date: February 2021

Award value: £20 million

Supplier: ITS Technology Group Ltd, NGE Concessions SAS

This contract - divided between Warrington-based telecoms supplier ITS Technology, and French construction firm NGE - was awarded to provide the Liverpool City Region was a "dedicated full fibre backhaul network, with unlimited capacity, which passes through all LCR localities".

 

Further Competition for the Procurement of Gigabit Capable Connectivity

Contracting authority: Oxfordshire County Council

Award date: July 2021

Award value: £8mn

Supplier: Nnxyz Ltd

This sizeable contract was awarded for the provision of gigabit-capable infrastructure across the entirety of Oxfordshire, and was awarded via JISC Services' Telecommunications framework.

 

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Towns Fund

Launched in September 2019, the Towns Fund was a £3.6 billion investment fund opened up to over 100 select local authorities in England. These authorities were able to bid for up to £50 million worth of funding for a 'Town Deal', to be put towards stimulating local economic growth.

This pool included the £675 million Future High Streets Fund, a separate funding strand aimed at regenerating declining local high streets.

From Q1 2019 to the end of Q2 2022, public bodies have awarded at least 48 contracts related to the Towns and Future High Streets Funds, worth £14.7 million.**

Towns Fund Contract Awards

**  This analysis was conducted using a search of contract keywords, including: "Towns Fund" and "Future Highstreets Fund".

 

A sizeable number of these contracts are for the provision of consultancy services to help local authorities develop their applications for the Towns Fund. Copeland Borough Council, for instance, awarded a £150,000 contract to Hatch Associates Ltd "to assist in the preparation of two town investment plans" for the Towns Fund.

The most regular procurers of Towns Fund-related services include Bournemouth Christchurch & Poole Council and City of Bradford Metropolitan District Council, having both awarded 3 or more relevant contracts.

The top suppliers of Towns Fund-related contracts - by total contract award value - are: †

Some notable non-consultancy or business case-related contract awards include:

 

Lowesoft Town Hall Development Project Manager

Contracting authority: Lowesoft Town Council

Award date: March 2022

Award value: £111,000

Supplier: Moss King Associates Ltd

This contract sought project management services for the development and delivery of the Lowesoft Town Hall Project - a project in-part funded by the Towns Fund.

 

Agatha Christie Artwork Commission for Torquay Harbourside

Contracting authority: Torbay Council

Award date: January 2022

Award value: £100,000

Supplier: Elisabeth Hadley

This contract sought the creation of a piece of artwork in commemoration of author Agatha Christie, "to be installed as part of the harbour renewal and improvement scheme being developed as part of the Towns Fund investment from government".

 

Towns Fund - Works to create additional sports and recreational facilities

Contracting authority: City of Bradford Metropolitan District Council

Award date: February 2021

Award value: £145,000

Supplier: Mel Green Construction Ltd

As its title suggests, this contract harnessed monies from the Towns Fund for "the supply and installation to create additional sports and recreational facilities to parks within the Keighley and Shipley area".

 

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Adult up-skilling

Another strand of the Levelling Up agenda is to help adults across the UK to gain new skills and qualifications, namely via the Lifetime Skills Guarantee. The Guarantee made available almost 400 different courses to adults who did not have a Level 3 degree for free, as well as a number of Skills Bootcamps "which offer free, flexible courses lasting up to 16 weeks" to thousands of adults.

A search of Tussell shows that from Q1 2019 to the end of Q2 2022, authorities awarded at least 72 adult up-skilling related contracts, at a total value of £121 million.

These contracts - both in volume and value - overwhelmingly came from the Department of Education for the provision of different Skills Bootcamps across the country, but other buyers in this area have included a number of Combined Authorities, namely the CAs for Greater Manchester, the West Midlands, Cambridgeshire and Peterborough and the Liverpool City Region.

The top providers of these bootcamps - by total contract award value - include: †

Some notable Bootcamp-related contracts awarded by authorities other than the Department for Education include:

 

West Midlands Combined Authority AEB Digital Bootcamps

Contracting authority: West Midlands Combined Authority

Award date: October 2021

Award value: £21 million

Suppliers: Twin Training International Ltd, The Skills Network Ltd, University of Birmingham, Capita PLC, Generation: You Employed UK, School of Code Ltd, Code Your Future, Local Education and Development Ltd, Techtalent Academy Ltd, Resume Foundation

This sizeable contract harnessed the West Midlands Combined Authority's devolved Adult Education Budget to continue the provision of its successful Digital Bootcamp pilot scheme.

 

Digital Skills Bootcamp

Contracting authority: Liverpool City Region Combined Authority

Award date: December 2021

Award value: £800,000

Suppliers: Wirral Metropolitan College, Netcom Training Ltd, Code Nation Ltd, Brit Asia TV Ltd

The LCRCA sought the provision of a number of digital skills-related bootcamps - from digital marketing to full stack web development - after receiving £1.2 million in funding from the Department of Education. The Liverpool City Region was one of the original 6 regions nationally to trial the digital bootcamps scheme in September 2020.

 

Skills Bootcamps - Retrofit Skills Mini-Competition under the GMCA Education Work and Skills FPS

Contracting authority: Greater Manchester Combined Authority

Award date: July 2021

Award value: £380,000

Supplier: North West Skills Academy Ltd

This contract sought a supplier "to deliver the reskilling/upskilling element of a Retrofit Skills Hub which forms part of the wider Skills for Growth programme".

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† These contract award values include instances where the value was divided between multiple suppliers, meaning the figure presented may not represent the actual figure awarded to the specific supplier.

 

Taking the lens back

Mapping these opportunities nationally shows - more or less - that these Levelling Up-related contract awards have originated in the North, North West and West Midlands. ††

Volume Map†† This analysis includes only the contracts relating to the gigabit rollout, the Towns Fund, and adult up-skilling, and excludes awards from Central Government authorities; covers Q1 2019 - Q2 2022. 

What does this tell us?

Levelling Up, in its many guises, has filtered down into public procurement - disproportionately so via authorities in the areas the policy sought to address: namely, those outside the South East. Contracting authorities are turning to the private sector to help them gain access to Levelling Up funds, and to harness these funds towards improving connectivity, local business and education.

Nor is Levelling Up-related procurement showing signs of abating after its launch in 2019, with 2021 seeing a sizeable number of Levelling Up contracts being awarded. If the new Truss administration continues its support for the policy, there is a good possibility this trend will continue.

The three areas analysed are, of course, just a few of the many sides to Levelling Up: the 'success' and dissemination of its other aspects - like the results of investment into transport, the NHS and policing, for example - are harder to discern through public procurement. Moreover, as is the nature of public procurement, it will take time for policies surrounding Levelling Up to actually filter into action via tendering and contracting.

With the Levelling Up policy still only a few years old, it is likely premature to draw too many black-and-white conclusions about the success of Levelling Up both broadly and at the procurement level. The extent to which this flagship agenda was brought to life through public procurement, and just how successful it was in tackling decades-old inequalities across the country, will become clearer in the years to come.

 

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If you want to learn how Tussell can help you and your procurement team to keep track of how other authorities are pursuing Levelling Up, book a personalised demo of our market intelligence platform.

If you're interested in learning more about how procurement spend is spread regionally across England, check out our free report from last year.

 

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