Treasury Review and Procurement Reform Act 2022

[Michael Marshall]

Mr. Speaker,

I move to introduce this act to be read a second time.

Treasury Review and Procurement Reform Act 2022
Part One: Treasury Review Reform
This Act:
1. Establishes reforms in HM's Treasury reviews by creating an Independent Monetary Policy Office (IMPO). 

2. The IMPO shall provide the Chancellor with recommendations on the effects of fiscal policy decisions on monetary flow in the economy.

3. The IMPO shall provide the Chancellor with recommendations on tax rates or exemptions that may limit or increase monetary supply and demand.

4. The IMPO shall be led by an Office Committee composed of at least two Senior Civil Service officials with at least 20 years of experience in economics, two private sector members with at least 20 years of experience in Finance, and one private sector member with at least 20 years of experience in international trade. Committee members will be appointed by the Chancellor.

5. Additional committee members may only be added upon authorization from the Chancellor and must have at least 20 years of experience in economics, finance, or international trade.

6. The IMPO shall designate a Chair among the members of the Office Committee to represent the APO.

7. The IMPO Office Committee shall vote to approve all recommendations to be presented to the Chancellor and be available for follow-on questions by HM's Government.

Part Two: Treasury Procurement Audits
This Act: 
1. Establishes standards to advise the Chancellor on potential procurement waste
2. Standards will be demonstrated in a color coded format of green-yellow-red for procurement requests.
    a. Green - The scope, work breakdown, schedule, and cost of procurement almost certainly (80-99% confidence) will lead to on-time delivery with requested funding.
    b. Yellow - The scope, work breakdown, schedule, and cost of procurement probably (51%-79% confidence) will lead to on-time delivery with requested funding.
    c. Red - The scope, work breakdown, schedule, and cost of procurement probably will not (less than 50% confidence) lead to on-time delivery with requested funding.

3. Establishes the Accountability Procurement Office (APO) as an independent committee of Her Majesty's Treasury to audit funding requests and provide the appropriate indications to HM's Treasury in the budget.

4. The APO shall govern approvals of overspending in procurements exceeding 1 Million with substantion for any such overspending of funds and a recommendation to mitigate the overspending.

5. The APO shall be led by an Office Committee composed of at least two Senior Civil Service officials with at least 20 years of experience in conducting audits, two Senior Civil Service officials with at least 20 years of experience in Procurement, and one Senior Civil Service officials with at least 20 years of experience in finance and/or economics. Committee members will be appointed by the Chancellor from the Civil Service.

6. Additional committee members may only be added upon authorization from the Chancellor and must have at least 20 years of experience in accounting, procurement, finance, or economics.

7. The APO shall designate a Chair among the members of the Office Committee to represent the APO.

8. The APO Office Committee shall vote to approve all designations to be presented to the Chancellor and be available for follow-on questions.

Part Three: Procurement Standards
This Act:
1. Establishes that orior to the cancellation or write-off of a contract surpassing 1 Million the Permanent Secretary of the Department shall review and approve the decision with substantiation.

2. Establishes that prior to the cancellation or write-off of a contract surpassing 1 Million the Permanent Secretary of HM Treasury shall review and approve the decision with substantiation.

3. Establishes that prior to the cancellation of a contract surpassing 100 Million the Chancellor shall be notified to review the cancellation decision before it is finalised by HM Government.

4. Establishes that no project shall receive more than 1 Million in funding beyond the allotted budget without approval from HM Treasury's Permanent Secretary after review by the APO. 

5. Ensures that all government procurements, contracts, and projects must report their progress to schedule ratio on a quarterly basis to their appropriate office. i.e 10% progress with 10% of the schedule elapsed shall equal a ratio of 1.

6. Ensures that all government contractrs and/or projects exceeding 1 Million which fall under a ratio of .7 shall be considered failing to meet procurement standards and shall automatically go under review and audit by the APO.

5. Establishes that all government projects over 100 Million which fail to meet these standards shall be reviewed by the Chancellor quarterly.

Part Four: Public Transparency
This Act:
1. Ensures all reviews, results, and other information that is produced as a result of the Act set forth shall be publicly available.

2. Establishes that all government contracts should be competed under a clearly auditable standard.

3. Establishes that procurement decisions will be relayed with substantiation for the decision to competing contractors.

4. Establishes that contractors that consistently fail to meet the standards set forth may be subject to disqualification from future procurements offered by HM Government if reviewed by HM Treasury and determined to be unfit for HM Government's procurement standards.

[William.Croft]

Mr. Speaker, 

I beg that this bill be read a second time. 

[Blakesley]

The question is "shall the bill be read a second time?" I call the Chancellor of the Exchequer.

[Michael Marshall]

Mr. Speaker,

I introduced this bill to Parliament to address some of the same waste identified by the opposition and identified by this government alike. In the MOD alone it was identified 17 billion pounds of waste since 2010 and we have identified billions more since 2003. This bill mitigates waste seen across all governments by establishing independent committees that have the experts necessary to inform the Chancellor of waste before it happens rather than after. No, it is not a complete solution, but if this bill manages to save the government even 50% of annual waste this single piece of legislation will save us conservatively 1.5 Billion pounds of waste in the MOD alone while keeping procurement more efficient and on schedule. This bill is how we address our deficits while we improve delivery of services to and from the government, and redirect those funds to improving our services to the public overall and reducing the fiscal burdens on the taxpayer.

 

I commend this bill to the House.