Each government department will be expected to draw up a three-year commercial plan and set out a "clear rationale" for the use of any interim staff, under new standards aimed at improving the government's ability to hold its own with private sector suppliers.
A government-wide review of Whitehall's commercial capabilities was launched in 2014, following revelations that suppliers G4S and Serco had overcharged the Ministry of Justice for the electronic tagging of offenders.
As part of that process, civil service chief executive John Manzoni this year unveiled 14 new commercial standards for all government departments, asking them to ensure they had "a fully resourced and appropriately skilled, trained and experienced commercial function".
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The standards have now been given a refresh, with a slimmed-down "iteration two" document setting out eight priority areas each department will be asked to focus on, and the new metrics by which success will be judged.
Top of the list is "Blueprints and Resources", with the document saying each department will need to come up with a "signed off blueprint that indicates their expected commercial activity, details grants where appropriate, and sets out their resource and capability requirements" over the next three years.
Success against that measure includes ensuring that at least 60% of a department's commercial staff working at Grade 6 and above have been accredited by a new Assessment and Development Centre run by the Government Commercial Organisation.
As CSW reported earlier this year, staff who have received such an accreditation will be employed directly by the GCO – potentially on better pay and terms – and loaned back out to departments to meet their needs.
The new document also says that the use of interim commercial staff in departments must be "optimised" to support a shift away from Whitehall's long-standing reliance on outside help in favour of building in-house capability.
All interim appointments must, it says, be supported by "a clear rationale and statement of purpose that shows time-limited reliance on this form of resource and supports the permanent resourcing strategy as set out in the agreed blueprint".
Elsewhere, the document stresses the need for a focus on "pipeline and planning", with departments expected to undertake a review every six months of all their current and future contracts and avoid "unwarranted extensions".
Each department will also be expected to set out a "comprehensive" 18-month look-ahead of those contracts deemed "high risk or complex" to improve long-term planning, and ensure that they have the resources in place to "enable unforeseen or new commercial activity", the standards say.
Departments will also be required to show that they have engaged suppliers early to "maximise competition" and ensure the field is open to small and medium-sized businesses.
Launching the new iteration, government chief commercial officer Gareth Rhys Williams said the "shorter, more concise" standards were now "underpinned by associated metrics to enable departments to localise the standards and to measure and define how they meet these standards".
He added: "I look forward to working with departments in both the continuing integration of these standards into departmental processes, and the uplift in capability that will occur as we continuously improve our adherence to the standards."
The document also makes clear that the latest iteration of the standards is unlikely to be the last, saying the government is looking for "continuous improvement" and will "potentially" revise the guidance again in late 2017 after feedback.
The government currently spends around £225bn a year on contracts with private and third-sector providers, according to the latest figures from the National Audit Office.
An overview released by the public spending watchdog earlier this year said there still was "much more to be done" to build Whitehall's commercial capability, with the NAO highlighting the need to reform departmental governance to ensure proper oversight of contracts and create an "enhanced and more credible” commercial profession with a clearer role in managing providers.