Guidance

Improving commercial skills

Published 2 October 2014

1. Why do we need to improve our commercial skills?

The government is increasingly commissioning the delivery of public services, rather than providing them directly. These changes to the way we work mean that we have to develop different skills and adopt a more commercial mindset. We need to be able to understand the marketplace and how suppliers of services we are contracting operate, so that we can get the best possible deal for the taxpayer.

This is even more important at a time of continued austerity, increased demand and the need to increase growth, when the value we can gain makes an enormous difference. So we need to improve our capability so that our commercial thinking underpins robust and effective policy outcomes, drives out waste and maximises value.

It’s for this reason that the Civil Service Capabilities Plan identified commercial skills as one of 4 priority skills that we need to develop. Some capability is already in place at expert and practitioner levels. But there is a need for every civil servant to build a basic awareness of commercial skills.

2. How can I improve my skills?

We will be commissioning a range of blogs from senior leaders to civil servants who have not even realised that they need commercial skills, starting with Bill Crothers, Head of the Commercial Profession discussing why commercial matters to all civil servants.

3. What learning products are available to assist your commercial development

There are a number of ways that we can build, and are building, our capability in this priority area. But above all, we should all be spending some of our 5 development days each year on building our commercial skills.

A broad range of learning and development activities have been developed to compliment the Civil Service competencies of ‘Achieving Commercial Outcomes’ and ‘Delivering Value for Money’ in mind.

These activities cover all the skill levels, from awareness to expert. They include a series of e-learning modules and new masterclasses on themes such as contract management and strategic supplier engagement. For senior civil servants, you can also attend the one day ‘Commercial Skills for Leaders’ programme.

There’s something for everyone - please look at Civil Service Learning for more details and book on a course today!

4. The Government Commercial Development Centre

The Government Commercial Development Centre is a set of assessment exercises designed to identify the commercial expertise, experience, and capability of civil servants who work in the commercial function. It evaluates a participant’s commercial expertise and experience against the Professional Standards for Government Commercial Professionals and provides expert commercial insight into the areas a participant can develop to best support their career.

The Government Commercial Development Centre plays a vital role in accrediting commercial professionals in Government at specialist levels. it also helps ensure that roles with significant commercial responsibility are held by staff with the appropriate expertise and experience.​

John Manzoni, Chief Executive of the Civil Service, writes:

Enormous value to the taxpayer can be created when government and the biggest suppliers to government come together in a strategic way.

The Commercial Capability Programme advances this substantially and in so doing, provides commercial experts across government with the opportunity to gain the experience and expertise that can put them in a world-class position.

Civil servants can find out more by logging in to the Commercial Online Tool at the Government Commercial Development Centre.