Much smarter and more expert people than me will comment on the consequences of the Trump regime’s actions in terms of the economy and impact on individual businesses. Tariffs are obviously the biggest issue, but the ‘war on woke’ is beginning to have tangible effect on firms and on procurement activity.
Various marketing publications recently reported that Accenture Song, the creative division of global services giant Accenture, was removed from Transport for London's (TfL) creative services review process due to the company's decision to discontinue its global diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) goals. TfL said that this move rendered Accenture Song's bid non-compliant with the supplier diversity criteria in the tender, with a spokesman saying, ‘Following our evaluation of Accenture Song/Droga5’s submission, we recently informed them we were unable to continue with their bid for our creative tender contract, as aspects of it no longer met the required criteria.’
The rollback of DEI initiatives by companies like Accenture has been influenced by political shifts, notably in the USA. Following executive orders from President Donald Trump that dismantled federal DEI programs, several corporations, including Accenture, reassessed and, in some cases, discontinued their DEI commitments.
But Shaheen Sayed, head of Accenture UK, Ireland and Africa, said: “I want to be clear that Accenture is fully committed to being a workplace of choice for anyone, across all the countries we operate in, including the UK, Ireland and Africa, free from bias and discrimination. I will ensure we continue to hold ourselves to the highest standards that we have come to expect.”
I’m surprised this was seen as a in / out qualification issue in the procurement process by TfL. More often, that sort of issue could come under the wider ‘social value’ criteria, which would be scored in a typical public sector tender. Even a basic AI such as Copilot can give a pretty good answer to the question – “describe how you address supplier diversity and if you have a programme, how it operates”.
But it is interesting that Trump’s insistence on US firms dropping DEI policies is beginning to bite. However, I would argue that just because Accenture dropped their diversity goals does not necessarily mean they have stopped taking action that might support supplier diversity. And Accenture still has some good material on diversity and inclusion on its UK website at least. I’m quite surprised the firm hasn’t challenged the TfL decision, to be honest.
In terms of goals, for instance I have argued for years that the UK government should drop its deeply stupid ‘goal’ for SMEs (small businesses) to win 33% of government contracts by expenditure. But I don’t want actions to support SMEs to stop – it is just a silly target. Similarly, Accenture could continue to support diverse suppliers, without overtly setting goals or targets. I suspect that will be the argument other US firms will use when bidding for UK contracts (and those in other countries that believe in DEI). But there is a fascinating counter issue developing.
The Financial Times was the first to report that the US government has sent a letter to major EU corporations that supply the US government, demanding that they adhere to an executive order signed by Trump banning diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) programmes. The letter, distributed by the American embassy in Paris, and (apparently) in other countries, highlighted that the DEI executive order applied to US government service providers or suppliers, even if they were based outside of the US. Contractors were asked to sign “Certification Regarding Compliance With Applicable Federal Anti-Discrimination Law” which included ticking the box to say they “do not operate any programs promoting Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion that violate any applicable Federal anti-discrimination laws’.
So now a major European firm – BAE Systems, SAP, Siemens and many more – will have to somehow wear two hats. They will need to show a commitment to DEI when bidding for contracts in the UK (and probably other European countries), but a lack of commitment when bidding in the US!
That is going to require some careful thought. Certainly, avoiding stepping over the legal line in the US is key, so staying the right side of anti-discrimination laws is a starting point. Being very careful about what is said and published publicly will also be key. But equally, continuing to actually implement some positive steps to promote a diverse supplier base could also be important. Positioning your actions as being driven by a focus on finding the best, most flexible and innovative suppliers, along with managing supply base resilience and risk (for instance) should be acceptable. Targets are dangerous – but understanding the composition of your supply base is just good business sense.
So we can start to see how firms might square this circle, and play to both audiences - but this is going to be very interesting to observe over coming months.