CBI wants new strategic body

The move would 'drive strategic thinking about future needs of public services', CBI says

The Confederation of British Industry (CBI) has called for smarter buying in the public sector and for the creation of a new strategic body to ensure that the government fosters innovation through its suppliers.

In its Improving Delivery, Releasing Best Practice in Procurement report, published last week, the CBI said that better use needs to be made of the Department of Trade and Industry’s (DTI’s) Technology Strategy Board by remodelling it into a body similar to the US defence agency DARPA.

The CBI said: “This would drive strategic thinking about future needs across all public services, and sponsor promising research by universities and businesses to meet them.”

A DTI representative told CRN: “We will examine the CBI’s report. We are looking at a number of models to consider an enhanced role for the Technology Strategy Board.”

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