The SSRO has published two papers bringing together information on international approaches to single source contracting – where goods and services are purchased from a supplier in the absence of competition.
To coincide with the annual meeting of the International Industrial Cost Analysis and Verification Community of Practice (ICOP), being hosted by the SSRO in London from 9-10 September, the SSRO has published two papers which bring together information on the approaches to single source contracting taken by eleven international public procurement authorities. Drawing on information provided to the SSRO by ICOP members in spring and summer 2025, the SSRO’s publications provide insights into the key similarities and distinctions in approaches to single source contracting in different jurisdictions.
The SSRO hopes that these papers will improve awareness of this increasingly important aspect of public procurement. The papers provide a stimulus for further information exchange and discussion between ICOP members and others about how differences in approach impact on the achievement of policy objectives including the roles that assurance and regulatory bodies can play in supporting improvements.
Where public authorities procure goods or services from a single supplier, whether through choice (to support the development of sovereign capability) or necessity (when there is only one supplier), the economic and other benefits arising from competitive procurement are lost. In those circumstances value for money for the public purse needs to be protected through other mechanisms.
The SSRO’s survey found much in common in the single source contracting approaches taken by international authorities, for example, in the methods for pricing contracts and allocating risk between buyers and suppliers. But it also found differences between jurisdictions, for example, in what costs can be recovered by suppliers under single source contracts and in the factors that are taken into account when deciding the level of profit that may be earned under non-competed contracts.
The ICOP meeting provides an opportunity to discuss further and better understand these similarities and differences allowing ICOP members to explore the impact they have on the achievement of value for money and other public policy objectives.
The annual meeting will also allow ICOP members to share knowledge and expertise on approaches to contract audit and cost verification, on developments in the use of artificial intelligence in their work, and to consider how approaches to single source contracting can help speed up public procurement processes.