Covid 19: Agent of change or business as usual?

When 50 Degrees set a written recruitment exercise recently, we asked applicants, 'How will the impact of Covid-19 affect government outsourcing?' The principal objective was to examine their critical thinking, ability to construct an argument, and writing quality.  

I was initially disappointed that 90% of the responses focused on politics. The candidates discussed PPE procurement, alleged cronyism, and the Government's focus on short-term political objectives. Long-term structural change resulting from the pandemic, such as emerging technology and business models, people's expectations or habits, geographic shifts, and UK government borrowing reaching a peacetime record, barely featured. 

I'd assumed these factors, all amplified (to a greater or lesser degree) due to the pandemic, would feature heavily. However, the essays barely touched on these longer-term trends. I questioned why nobody was confirming my assumptions! 

Faced with the weight of this consensus, I had to re-examine my thinking, and I realised that our candidates were correct in their analysis. I see now that Government outsourcing will stay more or less exactly the way it is. In short, the candidates have changed my mind, and here's why.  

The economy is opening up again, and people are looking forward to getting back to normal. As the Government starts to put the shambles and triumphs of the pandemic response behind them, they must redouble their efforts on the 'levelling up' agenda and drive economic recovery. It looks as though they will rely heavily on private and third sector organisations to achieve their objectives in building infrastructure, skills provision, and operating new services. The market offers a range of products and services that the Government need right now. While these organisations provide quality and value, the Government will choose to purchase from them to realise their ambitions. 

If the pandemic has affected outsourcing at all, it has been to shorten planning horizons. Outsourcing is the expedient choice. 

But it is a choice. And it's hard to make an argument that, for this Government, outsourcing is part of an ideologically driven long-term commitment to the free market. They have made similarly practical choices to nationalise and subsidise. Just look at last week's rail network overhaul, or job retention schemes and wage subsidies in the previous 12 months. 

So, returning to the original question, 'How will the impact of Covid-19 affect government outsourcing?'. I think it might not present the 'shock' factor that people assume. The collective wisdom of the applicants has reminded me that it is short-term Political reality and immediate objectives that generally drown out broader considerations. This is what will drive outsourcing, and you can argue that it's always been that way—business as usual.

I'm delighted to welcome our newly recruited consultants to the team. We think they are amongst the brightest people we've ever met… and they know a thing or two about making a persuasive argument. 

Mark Winter
Consultant
50 Degrees Limited.