Design can stop wasteful public sector procurement

Your editorial (DW 11 August) struck quite a chord with me and – I am sure – any designers who come into contact with public sector organisations charged with commissioning design.

If the Government was aware of the potential cost savings, designers’ recommendations to improve procurement would have been made years ago.

The Design Council’s efforts have been admirable, but it is a drop in the ocean considering the volume of public sector design work.

While procurement departments work to ensure that public money is spent appropriately, all too often it is the lowest bid that wins the tender, regardless of quality. Rarely have I seen a ‘quality threshold’ form any part of a procurement process.

I would hope the design sector and its representative bodies could respond creatively and imaginatively to suggest and implement improvements to the procurement process. After all, isn’t design all about creatively solving problems, to the benefit of all?

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