TechUK's Future Gazing Event 2022: where next for local government tech?

On Friday 8th December, Tussell participated in TechUK's Future Gazing: Where Next for Local Government Tech in 2023? event. This event takes place annually and is an excellent opportunity to reflect and celebrate the achievements of digital local government from the past year and see whether the predictions made at least year's event came true. 

Tussell was invited to the event to share data insights and visualizations on the market: from its size, its biggest buyers, and analysis of which regions were spending the most. 

This year's lineup of speakers were:

• Gus Tugendhat, Founder, Tussell

• Steve Brandwood, Executive Director of Engagement, GeoPlace

• Lisa Trickey, Head of Digital Strategy & Design, Transformation, Innovation and Digital, Dorset Council

• Stephen Blackburn, Innovation Relationship Manager, Leeds City Council

• Georgina Maratheftis, Associate Director, Local Public Services, techUK (Chair)

A Reflection...

2022 was coined the "year of data, transparency and interoperability" by last year's Future Gazing event.

The meeting from last year came up with the following predictions for 2022:

• "Autonomous delivery will become a more regular sight on multiple pavements in this country as local gov becomes more comfortable with new technology use across our communities.

• Data-driven policy becoming the norm.

• Radically different operating models to meet user needs.

• Open data, infrastructure and interoperability key driver for national and local government and suppliers championing and embedding this will be future proofing their organisation and services.

• Tech suppliers coming together and collaborating to solve problems and demystifying technologies.

• Local government leading the way in innovation, but first they must seize the moment!"

To find out more about the predictions for 2022 check out TechUK's summary and video recording of the event on their website. 

The Market Landscape, Frameworks & Upcoming Opportunities - Gus Tugendhat, Tussell

Gus Tugendhat, founder of Tussell, used our market intelligence platform to show us that in FY21/22, Local Government was the largest procurer by contracting authority type in England - a state that has remained true for the last 5 years. 

In FY21/22, Local Government ICT procurement spend was around £1.8 billion, around 4% of the Local Government procurement spend total. Further data showed that local authorities in London spent almost 5 times more on ICT procurement than their counterparts in the North East,  with those in London spending £424 million compared to the North East's £89 million. Regardless of spending levels, most local authorities saw a growth in their ICT procurement spend in comparison to pre-pandemic levels, averaging around 23%. 

Gus also went on to discuss spending on tech with SMEs in 2022 showing that the largest supplier to the Local Government earns almost 18 times more than the top SME supplier.

A resounded trend that Gus highlighted is that Local Government ICT procurement is happening more and more through frameworks with the top framework by contract value being G-Cloud. However, G-Cloud still only accounted for 19% of the total Local Government ICT procurement through frameworks - other top frameworks by value in 2022 included RM6068 Technology Products & Associated Services and RM3821 Data & Application Solutions. 

Looking to the future, there is £617 million worth of live ICT procurement contracts that are up for renewal in the next 24 months - lots of opportunities to do business with local government. 

See the slides from Gus' presentation here

To read a summary of what the other speakers covered and watch the video recording of the event, go to TechUK's event round up here.

The Future...

The 2023 predictions are:

• "More than 600 million of relevant ICT contracts in local government will come up for renewal and suppliers who are planning ahead and get in front of these opportunities will do well.

• Real focus on how we deliver innovative service and use technology as a result of financial pressures.

• More emphasis on robotic process automation.

• Using technology to have inclusive and accessible workplaces and places in a hybrid world.

• Greater emphasis on cyber security in context of connected places

• Continued trend of local government delivery around a place agenda.

• Usage of location data in local government, the wider public sector and the commercial sector will continue to grow

• Data and system interoperability will be a core local government requirement

• Property lifecycle information will inform service planning and delivery

• The requirement for more systems and software will be designed to include UPRNs and definitive address data will grow"

At Tussell, we look forward to the year ahead and are excited to see the developments in tech in Local Government - which predictions will be right?

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