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If you think the rental crisis doesn’t affect you, you’re wrong. Maybe you think you’re not affected because you own your own house, and you’re not a landlord. Wrong. New Zealand’s rental crisis isn’t only causing homelessness and poverty, it’s dragging down wages, stifling innovation and suppressing productivity for the whole country.

New Zealand needs more houses. Yet despite the simplicity of that goal, it's been impossible to keep up with demand. This problem has persisted through both National and Labour Governments – several of each. As much as we might tinker around with the demand side of the equation, putting LVR restrictions up and down and tweaking interest rates, the gravity of the problem clearly lies with the supply side and our mindsets.

It’s been one year since the Government introduced its new procurement rules; we’ve recently conducted research into how much progress is being made within agencies, to get a sense of how successfully the new rules are being implemented. Our findings also revealed insights for businesses who provide products and services for Government.

Four small tweaks to the Government procurement rules – you’d think there was nothing to talk to about. Yet the flow on effects from the changes in the 4th Edition of the procurement rules are so significant, they have the potential to transform New Zealand’s entire economy.

The traditional procurement process is a tried and true one. We see it in government and in industry and across projects, services, and goods. For many years, it has been fairly mechanical: put out an RFP, make sure the proposals tick all the boxes, then pick the vendor in the middle, or the one with the lowest price, or the one you wanted to begin with.

With headwinds facing New Zealand's economy and the construction industry in particular, procurement has come under fire lately. Much has been made of the impossible position construction companies are put in when bidding for work - the ferocious competition to win a bid, lock in fixed pricing several years out, and hope to manage the cost control to make a slim margin. While a number of more sophisticated procurement approaches exist - and to be fair, some leading organisations in New Zealand are employing them - for others a tender bash with effectively lowest cost conforming is the main mode.