Automated FVRAs: How RiskTrace Is Already Delivering Starmer’s AI Vision
Prime Minister Keir Starmer's recent announcement to leverage artificial intelligence across the UK's public services offers a welcome solution for procurement teams currently facing unprecedented challenges. The government's 'Humphrey' AI initiative strongly advocates for properly implemented technology, which could deliver up to £40 billion annually in public sector productivity improvements. This aspirational vision of innovation, optimisation and efficiency is precisely what RiskTrace has pioneered, and is already delivering, through the automated financial viability risk assessment tool.
The Crisis: Civil Service Challenges
The civil service is facing significant strain, marked by escalating staff shortages in public finance roles and an ever-increasing workload. Currently, 16% of council finance positions across England are vacant, with 26% of accountancy roles unfilled. This issue is further compounded by a high annual turnover rate of around 12.5%, which continues to climb.
Juxtaposed by the introduction of the Procurement Act, the pressure has become greater still and ever more demanding on remaining staff. The legislation has substantially increased the analytical workload by mandating more rigorous supplier assessments including complex Financial Viability Risk Assessments (FVRAs). With 61% of public administration workers reporting intensified overwork over the past five years, departments are already struggling and lack both the personnel and budget to meet these new demands.
The Solution: RiskTrace’s FVRA Automated Tool
RiskTrace directly resolves these challenges through its automated FVRA tool, which automates the lengthy, resource-intensive process, providing results within minutes rather than days.
It epitomises Starmer’s vision and demonstrates how technology can be used to relieve pressure and maximise efficiency.
The platform automatically accesses verified financial information from Companies House, evaluates it against government FVRA criteria and processes over 11,697 data points across 21 spreadsheet tabs for a single entity assessment. This process is completed in just 1% of the time it would take to conduct the same assessment manually. Not only does this automation provide immediate relief for procurement teams, but it also removes the risk of human error, which inevitably comes with manual data entry. As well as delivering accurate and reliable initial assessments, RiskTrace’s platform offers ongoing monitoring of supplier financial health, again relieving teams of this burden. This allows for early identification of any potential weaknesses that could pose a risk to the supply chain as a whole.
The Result: Cost Reduction and Increased Efficiency
With the Treasury targeting approximately £12 billion in efficiency savings, RiskTrace offers a path to achieving these goals without compromising service quality or adding headcount. At just £25 per standard FVRA, the platform delivers exceptional value and reliable results free from human error, while saving departments significant time and costs.
RiskTrace demonstrates how properly targeted AI can significantly improve government operations, specifically tasks that are onerous when manually completed but simple and, in fact, more reliable when automated. This approach mirrors the government's own "Consult" tool, which analyses consultation responses in hours rather than months, potentially saving around £100,000 per consultation.
By automating financial viability assessments for both government procurement teams and suppliers, RiskTrace is already delivering on Starmer's vision: increasing productivity, reducing pressure on overstretched staff, eliminating errors, protecting departmental budgets and improving decision-making.
