Commercial support for the public sector

Private sector by head. Public sector by heart.

Icosa helps public sector organisations get more from their commercial activity, from project delivery and spend analysis to supply chain optimisation and organisational transformation. Senior practitioners, honest advice and rates that respect public money.

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  • 30+ yrs in and around the public sector
  • UK owned and independently led
  • Half the team veterans or reservists

Organisations we have worked with

  • Southern Housing
  • Platform Housing Group
  • Thrive Homes
  • WMEmployers
  • Linstone Housing
  • Hanover Scotland
  • Green Square Accord
  • Ferguslie Park Housing Association

The case for looking

Most budgets are leaking. Quietly.

World Commerce & Contracting has tracked the cost of poor commercial practice for years. Their research puts the loss at between 3% and 20% of an organisation's external spend, slipping away through weak specifications, unmanaged contracts and value left on the table.

8.6%

The current average share of external spend lost to commercial leakage

That is not a rounding error. It is a budget line nobody approved. We help you check for leaks, and we plug the ones we find.

Your annual external spend

Likely annual leakage at 8.6%

Ask us to check for leaks

What we do

One discipline. Every facet.

Five ways into the same problem. We advise on, review or directly manage the commercial work, in whole or in part, as you require.

  1. 01

    Procurement delivery

    Hands-on support from a single tender through to complex programmes of work, including supply chain optimisation. An extra pair of hands when you need one, a full team when you need more.

    Practitioner to programme
  2. 02

    Commercial leadership

    Interim and fractional cover at Commercial Director and Head of Procurement level, through to organisational transformation. Senior people who have run functions, not just reviewed them.

    Director level
  3. 03

    Function reviews

    Honest, balanced assessments of your commercial function and your spend. Where it is strong, where it leaks, and a practical route to better.

    Assessment
  4. 04

    Contract management

    Value does not stop at award. We build contract management that keeps delivering from day one to exit.

    Award to exit
  5. 05

    Compliance and governance

    Confidence around the Procurement Act 2023 and the regulations beneath it. Clear processes and governance built on best practice, not box-ticking.

    Procurement Act 2023

Practical cost control runs through all of it. Tell us what you are wrestling with

How we work

Public money, spent well.

No pyramid, no padding

We avoid the leveraged consultancy model. Senior people do the work, and you pay for the work, not for a tower of juniors learning on your budget. That is how the rates stay realistic.

01

Senior by default

Our people sit at the senior end of the experience curve, with deep expertise built across the public and private sectors and internationally.

02

UK owned, service backed

Icosa is UK owned and independently led. Half our team are veterans or reservists, and that discipline shows in how we plan and how we deliver.

03

Visual thinking

Complex programmes explained in pictures people actually read. Where a diagram lands better than a forty page report, we draw the diagram.

Contact

Start with a conversation.

Tell us what you are wrestling with. We will tell you honestly whether we can help, and what it would take.

info@icosa.uk

Or send us a message and we will come back to you.