Question to the Cabinet Office:

To ask His Majesty's Government, following the publication on 11 December 2024 of the procurement notice Review on the State of Digital Government (2024/S 000-039897), what assessment they made of Bain & Company's compliance with monitoring conditions; whether the Cabinet Office had final approval over the participation of Bain & Company in the framework mini competition; and what safeguards there are to ensure that firms subject to monitoring cannot use procurement intermediaries to bypass Government scrutiny of monitoring conditions.

The Cabinet Office’s use of procurement intermediaries is governed by the Cabinet Office Commercial Directorate and any requirements commissioned via this route remain subject to the same level of assurance and governance as it would if it had been undertaken in-house.

As part of this specific procurement competition, the Cabinet Office Commercial Directorate confirmed with Government Commercial Function that Bain & Company were meeting all applicable conditions that permit them to be included in this mini competition.