The UK public sector spends over £250 billion, about one-third of public expenditure, on the procurement of goods and services from the private sector.

Past procurement practices favored the bigger, more established organizations, and lesser-known alternative and smaller firms have often felt unable to compete. In an attempt to level the playing field in the heavily scrutinized field of public sector procurement, the transformation of aspects of the procurement process is afoot. 

We are now in a more open and transparent world of work where actions speak volumes. There is an expectation that the most suitable organizations, which provide products and services in the best way without compromising ethics, quality, or value for money, should be awarded contracts, regardless of size, maturity, or being new to the public sector. 

Openness, fairness, and integrity are now at the heart of many organizations involved with the public sector and standards are a tool to enable firms to set and meet best practices. BSI, the business improvement company, worked with stakeholders to develop standard BS 95009:2019 Public sector procurement - Generic requirements for organizations providing products and services. 

What is Standard BS 95009? 

Standard BS 95009:2019 provides a framework to help those in the procurement process to demonstrate and assess the suitability of organizations tendering for or procuring public sector contracts. The aim is to simplify the tender process, so it is more accessible, and to reduce duplication of effort. 

This is the first generic, non-sector-specific standard for procurement in the UK public sector. It specifies how an organization can demonstrate that it is: 

• Suitable as an external provider of products and services to the public sector 

• Able to reliably deliver products and services meeting the requirements of the contracting authority 

• The requirements are generic and apply to any organization, regardless of type, size, or the nature of its activities. 

The criteria set out can be used by organizations which are: 

• Contracting out a provision of products and services to external providers 

• Acting as external providers

Why was Standard BS 95009 Developed?

Historically, UK public sector procurement struggles with a poor reputation: there’s a perception that the processes involved could be fairer, more transparent, and more accessible to smaller or newer organizations.

BS 95009:2019 was written to tackle those issues. It provides criteria and guidance that enable potential suppliers to demonstrate their generic trustworthiness, transparency, and ethical practice.

At the same time, procuring bodies can use the standard to assess bidders more readily and accurately. Overall, the standard should simplify the process, reduce bureaucracy, ensure due diligence and provide assurance that fairness prevails in the awarding of contracts. 

To read more about the role of standards in Government, click here.

How Will Organizations Benefit from Standard BS 95009? 

Small or newer businesses sometimes report that there are barriers between them and the public procurement supply chain, because of the actual or perceived complexity of the tender process, and blanket requirements. This new standard provides for three levels of conformity to its requirements, with Level One enabling smaller or less mature organizations to demonstrate their suitability as potential suppliers more easily. 

The standard’s single, generic assurance framework will reduce bureaucracy and eliminate duplication of effort for organizations that bid on multiple tenders.

Likewise, from a procuring body’s point of view, the standard supplies the generic part of all tender processes, so procurement officers can use it to more quickly, accurately, and fairly assess each bidder’s suitability for consideration for a particular contract. Specific contracts can also be more focused and simpler.

Finally, it’s important that public sector contracts are awarded to the most suitable organizations and that they provide products or services in the best way, without compromising ethics, quality, or value for money. This standard helps that happen, so the general public ought to benefit too. 

BS 95009 and over 100,000 more internationally recognized standards are available for simple and flexible access with a BSI Knowledge subscription. In the trust-critical public sector, our subscription service puts the control in your hands, with traceability to monitor and demonstrate your business's compliance to standards, and self-serve functionality that enables you to manage your subscriptions, standards, users, and content quickly and simply. Request to learn more.

Other Key Procurement Standards

BS EN 17371-1:2021 Provision of services. Service procurement. Guidance for the assessment of the capacity of service providers and evaluation of service proposals. This standard provides guidance for the assessment of the capacity of service providers and the evaluation of service proposals in order to improve and facilitate the process of procuring services. 

BS 8572:2018 Procurement of facility-related services. Code of practice. This standard was developed to establish a common, standardized approach to the way facilities services are managed and specified. A facility-related service is a supporting structure to the core business of an organization, such as cleaning, security, waste disposal, pest control, building maintenance, catering, and IT. It covers how to procure facility-related services (things like cleaning and waste management) in the most efficient way. It applies to new and existing facilities and especially to commercial and industrial property. 

BS EN ISO 20400:2017 Sustainable procurement – Guidance. Designed to assist organizations to meet their sustainability responsibilities, BS EN ISO 20400 outlines what sustainable procurement is, and how an organization can implement sustainable procurement practically. The overarching concern of the new international standard is to make the supply chain integration to an organization’s sustainability goals. BS EN ISO 20400 outlines in detail the sustainability impacts and considerations that should be incorporated across the different aspects of procurement activity, and is applicable to any organization, either public or private, irrespective of its size or location.

To ensure openness, fairness, and integrity is at the heart of your public sector organization, add these procurement standards to your collection today.