For many years, procurement professionals have been encouraged to demonstrate that they have achieved value for money. Too often, however, this has been interpreted primarily as achieving a competitive purchase price.
That approach is changing.
The Government is increasingly looking at its enormous procurement expenditure as a means of supporting wider strategic objectives, including national security, economic resilience, UK industrial capability and more resilient supply chains.
In June 2026, the Government announced new procurement guidance intended to strengthen national security and economic resilience. The Government acknowledged that procurement had sometimes focused too narrowly on short-term requirements and upfront cost.
This raises an important question for procurement professionals:
*Are we buying at the lowest cost, or obtaining the best long-term value?
These are not necessarily the same thing.
A supplier offering the lowest initial price may bring additional risks through dependence on vulnerable international supply chains, limited alternative sources, long lead times, critical component dependencies or inadequate business-continuity arrangements.
Modern procurement therefore requires a much broader assessment:
Price → Whole-life cost → Risk → Resilience → Security of supply → Social value → Supplier capability → Long-term value**
The Government’s approach also illustrates why procurement professionals increasingly need to understand the organisation’s wider commercial and strategic objectives.
Procurement should not operate as an isolated purchasing activity.
Specifications, sourcing strategies, evaluation criteria and contracts need to reflect the risks and outcomes that matter to the organisation.
The Procurement Act reinforces this broader approach. Its covered procurement objectives include having regard to delivering value for money and maximising public benefit.
For procurement and commercial professionals, the message is clear.
The question is no longer simply: “How cheaply can we buy it?”
A better question is:
What value, capability and resilience are we buying – and what risks are we accepting?”
DPSS Training
DPSS procurement, contracting and commercial-management courses examine how organisations can translate business requirements into effective procurement strategies, specifications, evaluation criteria and contracts.
The objective is not simply to run a compliant procurement process.
It is to procure an arrangement capable of delivering the required outcomes throughout the life of the contract.