Abstract
How are governance structures are maintained or adapted in extreme circumstances? We show here how dramatic changes in context can surface implicit purposes in the routine values that frame action, in our pragmatist analysis of accounts of procurement practice in the UK during the COVID-19 pandemic. We focus in particular on the decision-making processes that constituted the values underpinning the governance framework in use. We find that the values work that embeds governance of state contracting changed, to enable the previous financially oriented framework to be unpicked and undone to enable a time-based value system. In other words, the purpose of procurement shifted from value for money to value for time, specifically reducing visible time between producer, procurer, and consumer. This shift in terminal value was accompanied by a shift in instrumental values, and in the nature of work upholding those values. Our analysis leads us to the conclusion that the aim of values work can change rapidly in a moment of crisis, with significant implications for governance practice and its role as a guard against instrumental ethical reasoning.