Building commercial capability for infrastructure delivery in local government

By Cem Kucuktas

Many UK local authorities are now expected to deliver larger, more complex capital and infrastructure programmes, but their commercial functions require adaptation to support this growing ambition.  

The West of England Mayoral Combined Authority (WECA) is a clear example of this challenge. With a firm target of achieving Integrated Settlement Status by 2026, its commercial function needed to scale in line with a rapidly growing delivery agenda. As part of a multi-year transformation programme, Efficio is working alongside WECA to close that gap: providing hands-on sourcing support for live projects while building the commercial infrastructure WECA needs for the long term. 

The challenge: Ambitions outpacing commercial capability 

WECA is in the middle of a significant step change. Its 2026 goal of achieving Integrated Settlement Status is driving a broad growth agenda, with major infrastructure, capital, and transport programmes underway or in the pipeline. Managing around £100 million in annual spend, its commercial function is central to delivering that agenda – but at the point of engagement, it had not yet kept pace with the organisation’s ambitions. 

Post-award contract management lacked a structured operating model. KPIs were misaligned, supplier relationships were underdeveloped, and benefits tracking, documentation and reporting were inconsistent. Left unaddressed, weaknesses of this kind can lead to value leakage, performance drift, and reduced compliance and transparency – none of which an organisation targeting a step-change in status can afford. On larger infrastructure programmes, poorly modelled risk allocation, weak contractor price challenge, and cost-escalating change control all create conditions for overruns and political exposure. 

The approach: Building capability alongside capacity 

The project began with a detailed assessment of existing processes, systems, and stakeholder roles, establishing a shared understanding of what needed to change and in what order. From that foundation, the WECA-Efficio team built a phased improvement roadmap covering operating model design, systems review, and practical tools and templates. Stakeholder alignment was treated as a core workstream throughout: new governance and process frameworks only deliver value when people buy into the journey. 

At the same time, Efficio provided direct capacity support for live and complex projects – such as Adult Skills, LEVI and Infrastructure and Capital Development programmes. With sourcing workloads already rising, WECA could not pause operations while longer-term improvements were embedded. A dedicated pipelining exercise mapped future sourcing requirements and helped shape the commercial team structure needed to manage them, building internal capability rather than creating dependency. 

The results: A commercial function fit for large-scale infrastructure delivery 

With the programme ongoing, WECA now has a contract management operating model and toolkit aligned to the authority’s strategic goals and built for practical use. Governance and process disciplines are in place that improve auditability, strengthen value-for-money outcomes, and support continuous commercial improvement. A forward-looking procurement pipeline gives the authority the visibility to plan proactively across its growing infrastructure and capital programmes. 

The commercial foundations for WECA’s 2026 ambitions are in place, with its commercial team supported by the right structure, visibility, and governance to deliver on them.