LEAN THINKING WITHIN PUBLIC SECTOR PURCHASING DEPARTMENT: THE CASE OF THE U.K PUBLIC SERVICE
Can Lean work in public procurement, or is the field too complex and varied for a lean approach to succeed? In May 2010 the UK government announced a reform of public procurement; a key proposal was to use lean procurement to shorten timescales and reduce costs. This paper describes the Cabinet Office's work to develop a lean sourcing process and examines its practical implementation. . Early implementation experience is discussed alongside lean principles and theory and we consider the effect on procurement success in the public sector environment where strategic outcomes are paramount. We also seek to identify whether there are key enablers or preconditions which must exist in order for public procurement bodies to use a lean sourcing approach.