Knowledge sharing and collaboration in the public sector

Hello and a very warm welcome to the first knowledge sharing and collaboration blog from the techUK Central Government Council.

Introducing the blog series

As a council, our goal is to act as the voice of technology suppliers to and for central government, providing a structured means for government to engage with industry, fostering collaboration and transparency. We’ve focussed on engagement with central government buyers and suppliers through three work streams:

Digital transformation – identifying the best examples and approaches to digital transformation and signposting that for buyers and suppliers alike.
Procurement – supporting everyone involved in the procurement lifecycle from public sector business stakeholders, through procurement and commercial teams, to the suppliers. From demystifying the new Procurement Act, to exploring the impact of AI on procurement.
Market engagement – taking the thoughts, ideas and experiences of business, commercial, and supplier stakeholders on the ways to get the best out of Market Engagement. We all know that, done well, market engagement can make a huge difference to procurement and delivery outcomes – but what does good look like, and how do we get there?

As part of our discussions it became clear that there was one common theme running through all of these. Knowledge sharing and collaboration across and between buyers and suppliers can be a key to successful market engagement, and subsequent procurement that support digital transformation.

Why does knowledge sharing matter?

Across the Central Government Council, we found that the level of awareness of where, how, and when it is possible to share knowledge across buyers and suppliers is inconsistent. Some of us knew of forums set up through frameworks and others have been sharing knowledge in client-led spaces. However, many organisations didn't know of similar transformational programmes and suppliers, who had excellent insight and lessons learned to share with buyers, had no way of knowing how to present this to the Central Government community in trusted spaces.

Buyer and supplier ecosystems are navigating an increasingly complex delivery environment driven by existing silos, efficiency mandates, AI expectations, the need for legacy modernisation and a constantly shifting legislative landscape. Knowledge sharing creates a virtuous cycle: buyers make smarter, faster decisions, and suppliers gain fairer opportunities to contribute their best ideas. Together, this collaboration drives better outcomes for citizens and accelerates digital transformation across government.

So how is this blog series going to help?

We are looking to leverage the experiences of our Central Government Council members, our Central Government colleagues and the wider techUK membership to provide a valuable repository containing information on where, how, and what is available in terms of knowledge sharing and collaboration across government. All ideas around the theme of Knowledge Sharing and Collaboration will be considered but our key themes are:

Where knowledge already lives across government - we recognise there are plenty of communities, forums, and practices for knowledge sharing - but many don't know where to look. So this becomes a knowledge share of knowledge sharing - and we encourage our contributors to find other examples:
- Cross‑government communities of practice (e.g., AI).
- Procurement frameworks as knowledge highways and routes to insight.
- Tech delivery partnerships: making multi‑supplier ecosystems share by design.
- Case‑by‑case examples of knowledge sharing in action.

Along with articles signposting where to find knowledge sharing and collaborative spaces – we also want to understand what makes for good (or bad) knowledge artefacts, and where/how best to share them (e.g., reference architectures, standards, run books, approaches, etc)

Secure and responsible knowledge sharing – we’ll share insights on how sharing can be made safe and practicable covering topics including:
- Mitigating potential conflicts of interest and bias.
- Making sharing environments that are appropriate to the sensitivity of the problem space – while still functioning as a knowledge sharing forum.
- Protecting the IP of suppliers.

How to measure the value of shared knowledge – If knowledge sharing is going to cost money - move beyond “nice to have” into measurable ROI.
- KPIs for buyers: how do we measure the time and effort put in to knowledge sharing against the value to UK government. Does sharing result in a greater diversity of thought and input. Ultimately does it result in more effective solutions, delivered rapidly at an appropriate cost.
- KPIs for suppliers: greater access and visibility for all suppliers across government departments. Ultimately are more suppliers able to provide more services and solutions to more departments - ensuring the right supplier is being chosen at the right time for the solution.

…and many other ideas

Next steps

Our next blog post will follow within the coming weeks, along with an outline schedule of future posts. We've had interest from departments, executive agencies and other bodies, so we're excited for what is to come!

We’re hoping to post approximately 1-2 entries a quarter and would very much welcome ideas from the buyer and wider techUK communities. Please send any ideas to [email protected] and if we are able to include it on the blog we will be in touch about the requirements around content submission and an estimated timeline for when we will be able to share it.

Really looking forward to learning more about the knowledge sharing and collaboration across our Central Government communities.

Dave Moss and Anna Inman

CGC Council members and blog curators

techUK - Transforming Public Services

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techUK members are transforming public services in the UK. Our community help to shape a smarter, digitally empowered public sector.

techUK drives public sector digital transformation by uniting the public sector and tech industry. Through early market engagement, efficient procurement, and innovative technology adoption, we help to modernise legacy IT, and enable efficient, secure, and personalised services.

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