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Government Digital Service gov.uk

Define your purchasing strategy

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Your purchasing strategy must show you’ve considered commercial and technology aspects, and contractual limitations.

To meet point 11 of the Technology Code of Practice (TCoP) your plans must show:

  • the user need and/or the problem you need to solve
  • your decision process for building or buying technology, how it meets user needs and solves or mitigates your problem
  • how you’re following any government contractual limitations

    • If you’re going through the spend control process you must explain how you’re meeting point 11.

    How defining your purchasing strategy will help your project

    Having a clear purchasing strategy can help you understand what components, resources, support and delivery mechanisms you need. It will also help you decide whether you want to build, buy or use a combined approach to deliver your technology project or programme and how to achieve the best social value for money. The benefits of a purchasing strategy include:

  • competitive and innovative commercial products and opportunities
  • greater value from choosing to build or buying your technology
  • a commercial approach that supports the disaggregation of contracts
  • a smoother transition of knowledge and capability once a contract or programme ends
  • help with the transition to the cloud, commodity and common technology
  • shorter, more manageable contracts with a streamlined renewal process
  • a clearer view of contract status, risks and issues

    • Discover your requirements and capabilities

    By understanding your users’ needs and organisation’s requirements you can assess whether a product can or cannot meet them. You can use EN 301 549 and level AA of the WCAG 2.2 to help you assess the accessibility of the products.

    To help you choose your purchasing strategy you should:

  • aim to understand as much of the full cost of building or buying a product as possible
  • decide the upper cost you’re willing to spend based on the business outcomes you want to achieve
  • understand what is available in the technology market

    • This is an extract. The publication continues at the source.

    Read the original at the source: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/define-your-purchasing-strategy

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    https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/government-digital-service.atom ATOM
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    September 20, 2026 19:53
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    https://www.gov.uk/guidance/define-your-purchasing-strategy#2026-09-03T13:16:47Z

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