NCVO demands level playing field for commissioning

There must be a level playing field for public procurement so that voluntary and community organisations can compete fairly, the National Council for Voluntary Organisations has argued.

In its submission to the Treasury Spending Review, the umbrella group called for the transformation of public services, rather than an attempt to reduce the deficit “either through a ‘more for less’ or ‘less for less’ approach”.

It said: “Commissioning decisions should take into account of the impact on quality of life and community, for example by including provisions relating to social outcomes and social value in public sector contracts.”

The NCVO – which represents more than 8,300 organisations – said commissioning needed to encourage tenders from a full range of providers and should not favour non-specialist, large providers.

“There must be a level playing field for public procurement so that VCOs can compete fairly, for example bidding for contracts on the basis of price not cost,” it argued.

“Further consideration should be given to the level of risk that civil society organisations are able to bear and their ability to access the capital needed to make the transition to a payment by results model or greater use of spot contracts.”

In its submission, the NCVO also said:

• It is essential that the government makes “considered and evidence-based decisions” that fully consider the long term impacts of spending cuts to the voluntary and community sector
• Short term cuts to the sector could have a disproportionate effect on people and communities. Statutory funding to the sector represents 2% of government expenditure, “yet has a social and economic impact much greater than this, not least through the sector’s ability to draw in the resources of individuals, as both donors and volunteers, and its ability to lever in additional resources from other sources"
• The government should review spending on the voluntary and community sector across all departments to ensure that the net effect of changes are “at least cost neutral”. Settlement letters, the NCVO said, should ask individual departments to be mindful of the need to strengthen civil society, and therefore to look at the impact of spending decisions on the sector
• It welcomed the move to devolve power to local councils and local people. However, the government should send a clear message to local authorities “to remind them of the need to work with their local voluntary and community sector to ensure that spending decisions take account of the impact on local communities, particularly the most marginalised”
• The voluntary and community sector must be represented on local enterprise partnerships
• The government should support and strengthen the Compact, which outlines how public and voluntary sector bodies should deal with each other. This would mean “ensuring it is embedded within individual departments and giving powers to national and local ombudsmen to ensure effective implementation”. The national compact should also set the standard for local compacts
• A wider examination of the tax system is needed to incentivise giving and philanthropy, through the introduction of lifetime legacies.

The outcome of the Treasury’s spending review will be published on 20 October and affect the next five years.

The NCVO said: “Voluntary and community organisations play an important part in re-invigorating our democracy, empowering people and communities and driving genuine improvements to services. They not only provide the foundation for the Big Society, but make a vital contribution to the nation’s social, economic, political and cultural well-being.”