'Government needs to become an expert client'

摘要

At his Inaugural presidential address, Donald Leeper had a clear message for government: if you are serious about improving the outcome of the construction industry, not least the carbon emissions of buildings, you first need to become an expert client. Drawing on the fact that central and local government collectively procures about 40% of the construction industry's output, Leeper said the past 20 years had seen it throw away its internal resources as an informed client through moves such as the abolition of the Property Services Agency and the closure of the Department of Health's technical expert centre in Euston. "Government largely abandoned its opportunities for internal informed technical guidance and feedback. Then it delegated the public sector procurement role even further to individual schools and hospitals groups, so more and more projects were in effect procured by first time clients," he said. "It needs to become an expert client, perhaps by using the positive aspects of the PSA model."