Dorset's Digital Innovation Dynamic Purchasing System

Dorset Council provides local council services in one of the most diverse and rural areas of the country. Committed to using digital innovation to deliver services, encourage productivity, provide higher-skilled jobs and lay the foundations for long-term economic prosperity, Dorset Council has won awards for its 5G RuralDorset project and Dorset Open Networks Ecosystem Project.

Keen to scale and diversify the council’s ecosystem of local, national and international partners across public sector, academia, research and industry, a new Digital Innovation Dynamic Purchasing System was developed to deliver an agile and pacy way to contract with potential delivery partners.

CHALLENGES AND SOLUTIONS:

• Timescales. Public procurement can be a long and complex process, while innovation funding opportunities often come at short notice, bringing challenging timescales. The council needed a way to speed up procurement processes while operating in an open and transparent way and remaining within the law.
• Encouraging engagement. A Dynamic Purchasing System is unlike a traditional framework for the supply of goods, works or services. It is an electronic system companies can apply to join at any time. The bar for entry was set deliberately low to encourage early phase start-ups which often can’t afford the time and expense of accessing traditional procurement frameworks.
• Product development. We learned from our first procurement that having a DPS doesn’t guarantee faster and more agile outcomes. It’s essential to have a slick and well-resourced process sitting behind the online platform. 
• Emphasising the benefits. It’s important to be transparent about the scale of opportunities that will be processed through the system. The DPS has a maximum value of £10 million over four years.

SUCCESSES:

• Growing demand. The publication of the DPS generated significant coverage, highlighting Dorset as a location for digital innovation. Some 80 organisations applied to join the DPS in the first 30 days, a higher number than we expected.
• Streamlining the process. Early procurements through the DPS included equipment to support the Dorset Open Networks Ecosystem project and a technical partner to help create the UK’s first WiFi connected steam train using Low Earth Orbit satellite connectivity. The latter procurement was completed in just 16 days.
• Highlighting the opportunities, The project has allowed the council to develop a valuable database of organisations keen to work in the county and, with their consent, can communicate with them around broader innovation opportunities.

KEY TAKEAWAYS:

• Empowering public authorities. The UK public sector spends £300bn a year buying goods, services and works from the private sector. UK local government procurement alone accounts for £60bn a year. This represents a huge market and a significant lever public authorities can use to create and shape markets both nationally and locally.
• Innovation as a driver for growth. By buying more innovative solutions, the public sector can be a driver of new ideas, providing innovative firms with the foothold they need to succeed, fuelling the scale-up ecosystem and encouraging wider adoption of new tech services.
• Leading by example. The DPS is one reason the council was named a Startup Ecosystem Star for 2024 by the International Chamber of Commerce and Mind the Bridge. Recognising the council’s work in the “Visionary Public Procurement” category, the Judging Committee were “particularly impressed by your organisation’s strategic initiatives and achievements in stimulating innovation and economic growth. Your efforts serve as a model for emerging ecosystems worldwide.”

CONCLUSION AND NEXT STEPS:

Dorset Council looks forward to building on its reputation as a place that supports cutting-edge digital innovation. It shows industry that ours is a county that welcomes and supports innovation, and the investments, jobs and economic growth that can go with it.