This webinar is aimed at senior leaders who are currently negotiating, or about to negotiate, with government, particularly in aerospace, defence and security contexts. It will be presented by James Dowling and David Gauke, and illustrated with live examples drawn from negotiations we have worked on.
Background
Senior executives across aerospace, defence, space and security will recognise the pattern. Negotiations with government that should be commercially straightforward can become slow, opaque and value eroding. Sponsor departments may appear supportive but struggle to land decisions internally. Treasury scrutiny can arrive late and reframe the deal. Timetables slip, the conversation narrows to price, and outcomes drift.
A big part of the challenge is that you are not negotiating with a single counterparty. You are negotiating with a system of overlapping interests. Different teams inside a department, ministers, commercial functions, operational owners, and HM Treasury can each be optimising for different things, at different times, under different constraints. That makes it hard to design options that are simultaneously affordable, defensible, deliverable and politically sustainable. It also means that the negotiations you never attend, inside Whitehall, often determine the outcome as much as the meetings you do.
What we will cover
In this session we will use live examples to show how to:
- Diagnose why negotiations with Government fail, and what that implies for your approach, including MOD and Treasury dynamics
- Navigate Government as a system, not a single counterparty, including internal approvals and overlapping interests
- Put the three foundations in place before you negotiate: a robust strategic case, Treasury ready lead and fallback options, and an integrated plan
- Expand the deal space and identify where value exists, not just the headline commercial terms
- Move the conversation beyond price towards value and deliverability, using modelling and objective standards Government can engage with
- Win even when you never meet the real decision makers, by equipping your sponsor, managing timeline and approvals choreography, and integrating at the table and away from the table tactics.
This is not a procurement process briefing and it is not a public affairs session. It is a practical session on negotiation design and execution in a Government context where a range of processes that companies negotiating with Government will never see - including spending control, scrutiny and internal decision making - determine outcomes.
This online webinar will be the first session of a programme of activity including a negotiation workshop later in the year.
About Negotient
Negotient is a negotiation consultancy founded by former HM Treasury officials, senior civil servants and ministers. We advise clients on complex, multi party negotiations with government, globally and across sectors including defence, where optimising deal outcomes depend on a close reading of government interests and an ability to navigate Whitehall decision making, Treasury scrutiny and value for money tests. Our focus is on designing negotiations before they begin, so that strategy, options and tactics align with how government actually takes decisions.
Presenter biographies
David Gauke is Chair of Negotient and a former Member of Parliament and Cabinet minister. As Chief Secretary to the Treasury, he negotiated public spending settlements with government departments and devolved administrations, led public sector pay policy, and worked on policy issues including infrastructure investment, health reform and defence procurement.
James Dowling is a Founding Partner at Negotient and an expert in UK public policy, Government and politics. He is a former UK Government senior official and Special Adviser, having worked at HM Treasury including as part of the central Budget team, and, as a Special Adviser elsewhere in Whitehall, advised on negotiations with No.10 and HM Treasury on policy issues, public spending, legislative programmes and Parliamentary engagement.
Book Your Place
To secure your attendance to this event, please click on the 'Register Now' button. You can register for an ADS website login if you do not have one by clicking here.
