Desaparecedores, resistentes e impunidad
Capítulo 7 1972, Brandazza como prólogo de la noche carnívora
The combination of five elements that make up the core of the Citymart model, and acting together they provide what I identify as a mixed-modes governance framework for the procurement activities that Local Authorities choose to deliver through the model. Through the combination of elements, the model provides transparency and accountability, whilst fostering flexibility and creativity. The five elements are: Calls for Solutions packages, a Showcase process and database,
a Project Validation process, a City Evaluation process, and an Expert Certificate process.
The first element is the Calls for Solutions process. This is established at the stage when a problem (or opportunity) has been identified, but no preferred approach has yet been selected. The Citymart team works with the purchaser to engage stakeholders in clearly defining the specific outcome sought (the problem to be addressed) and to strip away pre-conceived notions about what the solution might be. They describe the process as generating ‘well-defined and under- written’ problem statements. In effect, this part of the process takes the Local Authority back into the commissioning phase, to more openly define needs and develop a nuanced best-value proposition for the activity. Any hidden objectives (or ‘wrong intent’ as they call it) are also brought to the surface, as they can otherwise influence the approach taken – particularly when it is designed in- house and with particular suppliers already in mind. As this quote shows, when the stages become blurred, the decision-making and negotiation points are difficult to identify and can become conflated:
“For example - a challenge where [Local Authority] specified they were looking for street cleaning robots. In the end they found that the best solution was actually a paint coating. Basically it wasn't a challenge about street cleaning robots, it was a challenge about not having chewing gum on the streets. And the reason they were looking for robots was because they thought it would be an interesting project to work on with the local university, who were very excited about having robots in the city”. (Citymart interview)
Once a problem statement has been agreed upon, a Call for Solutions package is compiled that includes the problem statement, terms of procurement, qualification requirements, and evaluation criteria. Developing the Call for Solutions package is the start of the formal sourcing phase of the procurement cycle. To ensure decision making is transparent and clearly documented, at this stage the highly relational process - which relies on intensive dialogue and engagement around the issue - becomes more technically focused. This is the stage when quality market intelligence can make the most difference to the outcomes of the procurement activity, but is when conventional approaches tend
to narrow down and limit options due to lack of knowledge, and time and risk aversion.
As part of the sourcing phase, the size and shape of the prospective supplier pool is identified – i.e. those that have the capacity and capability to deliver on the defined objectives. Citymart’s approach to this is highly strategic, being both targeted and broad. The broad approach includes openly publishing the Call for Solutions package on the Citymart website, whilst the targeted aspect involves also closely examining the Showcase database for potential matches.
The Showcase database is the second element of the Citymart model. At the time of interview, it had over 10 000 suppliers, that are continuously added to, and as it is available online it is always open for searching. Suppliers that have an innovative product or service create and then publish Showcases on the website. Showcasesare descriptions of a real solution that has been developed to at least prototype stage and is close to pilot or full deployment - but that is not well known in the market. The template that suppliers use to describe their Showcase incorporates global sustainability standards, making it easier for cities to assess solutions against indicators they are interested in, and also ensuring performance in these areas is transparent.
By publishing the Calls for Solutions publicly, and using its extensive networks to promote the opportunity broadly, Citymart is facilitating an open process. Any supplier can respond and no cost is involved, also ensuring equity at this stage. At the same time, the Showcase database provides access to a targeted pool of suppliers that improves the possibility of identifying a market-ready innovative solution, and minimises the potential of any replication of existing options occurring. As the Citymart team is independent it can also provide a range of capacity building support to prospective suppliers at this stage, to assist them to engage in the process, without jeopardising the neutrality of the outcome. Citymart advises that these first two elements have helped substantially improve the procurement processes of participating Local Authorities - but the real
innovation the Citymart model offers is in the validation of the responses to the Calls for Solutions. Together the validation processes inform the second step in the sourcing phase of the procurement cycle, the supplier selection process.
“Validating project references sounds equally banal as publishing problems, but in fact we think that it is even more transformative because it actually removes a lot of the uncertainty by proving that the information provided is accurate”. (Citymart interview)
There are three aspects to the validation processes and they make up the remaining three elements of the Citymart model. The third element, and most significant of these processes, is the Project Validation. The Project Validation is a crowd-sourced process that involves stakeholders in certifying suppliers’ responses to Calls for Solutions.
Decision making in public sector procurement is highly reliant on the project references that suppliers submit as part of the qualifications requirements. Citymart has identified that a lack of credible certification of this key documentation is a contributing factor to the tendency for procurement staff to narrow supply chain options to those they are already familiar with. Without a suitable verification process for new and innovative suppliers, the risks associated with engaging them is usually considered too high. However, there are few avenues available to actually verify the references provided:
“We were really surprised that given that public spending relies on project references, and that it's about 30 percent of world GDP, that there's no organisation that certifies or audits references in any form. Not even at national level, never mind globally”. (Citymart interview)
Their research identified that the avenues that are available, such as through the large accountancy firms, are costly and will only validate a reference to the extent that a task has been performed – for example, that street lights have actually been installed. This type of general approach to verification adds significantly to the cost, without adding any particularly useful information to the sourcing process.
Citymart’s approach is to crowd-source certification by involving a range of stakeholders in providing information that, cumulatively, provides a comparatively high level of certainty around outcomes at a low cost. The team calls it a process of ‘identifying binary facts’. For example – that ten street lights were installed; that the installation process took a specified amount of time; that the location was in a specific neighbourhood; that the project was a pilot, not the full deployment etc. The suppliers then invite people who have direct knowledge of the project to certify each of the facts, to ‘put their name to it’ in effect. This could be, for example, a citizen who lives on the street where the lights are, or a customer or other stakeholder from a previous project. The process is essentially driven by the suppliers, which keeps the cost to the purchaser down. Layers of fact-checking are used to improve the quality and accuracy of the information provided in references, and through this to generate an overall level of confidence in the product or service being offered.
The process is purposefully designed to build trust in innovative, unknown and often early-stage suppliers. At the same time, the process generates documented evidence that the suppliers can use for other projects in the future, assisting to improve their market readiness and building the qualification levels of the overall pool of ‘innovations suppliers’.
Once it has gone through the Project Validation, each of the responses to the Call for Solutions is then subject to the fourth element in the model, the City Evaluation process. The Local Authority appoints ‘jurors’ to evaluate the responses and provide a recommendation on the preferred supplier. The jurors include local citizens and other stakeholders that will be affected by the project outcomes. This element of the model is an important tool for building capacity to engage with institutional decision-making processes, and to negotiate the kinds of outcomes that community members value.
For large projects, the fifth element, the Expert Certificate process, is also applied. This involves global experts certifying the viability of solutions, particularly the calculations of potential sustainability and impact that suppliers
have included in their proposals. To date over 25 000 evaluations have been completed, involving more than 500 expert jurors and incorporating global sustainability standards.
Through its model Citymart is contributing to reconfiguring social relations around the ideation, development and selection of the innovations that Cities are developing and implementing. Each element of the model broadens out who has a say at all stages of the procurement process, and provides structured tools that promote diversity amongst those involved whilst also ensuring transparency and accountability.
Every person involved in any aspect of the verification processes, whether expert or citizen, goes through a vetting process to confirm they have no conflict of interest. Citymart also carries out random checks on identity and affiliations to create further robustness, and there are procedures in place should anyone wish to dispute a reference or conflict check. The level of documentation is substantial and a high level of governance transparency is achieved, particularly in comparison to the limited alternative options available to support the sourcing phase of the process.
In many cases, the Calls for Solutions focus on a pilot phase as the first step in a larger procurement process. This allows real-life pilots of innovative solutions to be implemented rapidly - providing opportunities for the supplier to further refine their solution, and generating a more complete evaluation to inform decision making before the full procurement opportunity is offered to the market. Citymart promotes the use of pilots in the procurement plan, to support the emergence, growth and diversity of innovative suppliers. To engage in a pilot process, suppliers must necessarily invest a significant amount of time and other resources, and therefore have considerable ‘skin in the game’. However, under the Citymart model they are not allowed to gain any advantage from this in relation to later stages of the procurement process. This part of the model has been included to ensure the prospective supplier pool for subsequent activities
remains open, and that the potential for further innovations continues to stay in focus. Through implementing successful pilots suppliers do, however, establish market reputation, secure crucial references and build industry partnerships. Whilst there is no guarantee, Citymart advises that some have subsequently been able to raise venture capital and/or succeeded in winning significant procurement contracts.
Suppliers also develop close working relationships with Citymart through engaging with the model, and also often with the purchaser team. Through a pure NPM-style lens this situation would be viewed as transgressing the neutrality that is assumed to deliver best-value in procurement processes. However, because external parties are involved in the validation processes and decision making is closely documented, the perceived disadvantages of relational approaches are managed. The Citymart model brings structure to previously unstructured aspects of the sourcing phase. The reading presented here demonstrates how a NPG approach to managing the sourcing phase of the procurement process can deliver the transparency and accountability standards required, whilst also opening up constricted approaches that limit both the involvement of citizens and the development and spread of social and environmental innovations.