The UK-based trade association UK Steel has published a new report “Public Procurement of Steel: Time for new thinking for a thriving industry” to provide a policy blueprint for the government’s Steel Strategy. The report contains a range of proposals to improve the uptake of UK-made steel in government projects.
According to the report, one third of the steel the government procures is imported, costing UK taxpayers £1.5 billion annually rather than supporting UK steel producers. Over the next decade, government steel requirements will exceed £4.3 billion without even accounting for major initiatives such as carbon capture and storage, hydrogen infrastructure, nuclear energy, and offshore wind.
UK Steel is setting out five key recommendations to ensure that major infrastructure uses domestic steel. The recommendations are: the government should make the use of domestic steel mandatory through public procurement contracts; it should evaluate the bidders’ contributions to sustainability, resilience, and local content; make nationally significant infrastructure projects subject to local content requirements of not below 30 percent; require developers and public bodies to justify why they did not use UK-made steel; a public-private partnership should drive investment into steel supply chains, which will attract inward investment, create jobs, drive economic growth, and ensure the UK develops resilient supply chains.
