Editorial: Report findings on procurement flag shortcomings at Stormont

The Comptroller and Auditor General has issued a damning report on Stormont's ability to handle procurement – the sourcing and securing of public sector goods. Dorinna Carville concluded that the existing structures are incapable of showing that the process delivers value for money. Her report said that there is a lack of staff with the appropriate capacity and capability to manage procurement activity.

This is a very serious matter, given that public procurement consumes around 25% of the Northern Ireland budget. There are bound to be issues at play including the wider problem in many first world countries of getting top rate personnel into public sector positions. After all, the brightest and best can earn far more in the public sector.

It is related to the difficulty of getting good people into politics, a difficulty that is not limited to Northern Ireland – as political reports from London and Washington make painfully apparent. ​​This report from the Comptroller and Auditor General is not only about a political failure but a difficulty in finding good officials, which is in some respects a more worrying problem because it is not easily rectified.

Already public bodies are plagued by the expensive over-use of consultants, which is what happens when officials turn to outside help. Getting good people into positions of oversight and governance will not be solved easily. But, while this is a problem that is only related to politics, as opposed to being purely political, it does again highlight the exaggerations that are made by those who repeatedly called for the restoration of the assembly, as if that will bring good things when in fact Stormont presided over multiple, and wide ranging failures.