Dan Kirby of the Cabinet Office and Steph Gamauf of New Local ask what commissioning might become if it moved beyond episodic procurement, detailed specifications, and retrospective performance reporting.
Their account draws on work through the Cabinet Office's Test, Learn and Grow programme and a workshop at New Local's Stronger Things. Participants described relationships as the infrastructure for working with uncertainty, and learning as a collective practice involving communities, commissioners, providers, and central government.
The direction is compelling, but it also raises practical questions. What forms of accountability support judgement rather than suppress it? Which risks can commissioners legitimately share? How will communities and smaller organisations gain real influence, rather than simply being invited into a more conversational version of the same process?
Read “Reimagining commissioning: towards relational, learning-centred approaches”.