Question
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, with reference to the Integrated Review of Security, Defence, Development and Foreign Policy, published in March 2021, CP 403, what steps her Department is taking to use the own-collaborate-access framework in decision-making on the procurement of (a) technologies, (b) services and (c) systems.
Answer
The own-collaborate-access framework is primarily focussed on technologies, where it guides strategic decisions on building and using capability in priority areas of science and technology and has informed the approach we have publicly set out for each of our critical technologies. The implementation of the Procurement Act (2023) will support science and technology businesses, for example by requiring larger contracting authorities to publish pipelines of their future procurements and providing more flexibility to procures to use their commercial skills to achieve their outcomes and better communicate their problems to work with suppliers on solutions.