12 March 2004
The Office of Government Commerce has generated savings of £1.6bn by streamlining procurement of goods and services – well over its target of £1bn by March 2003.
But action is needed if progress is to be sustained, the National Audit Office said this week. Its review of the OGC called for best procurement practice to be more widely disseminated across government departments to meet the target of £3bn in savings by 2006.
The government spends £15bn a year on goods and services, and the OGC is charged with improving departments' procurement capability and project management.
The NAO report, published on March 12, identified additional savings of £300m that could be realised if best practice procedures were followed more widely. Commenting on the report, Public Accounts Committee chair Edward Leigh said savings were not spread evenly across departments.
'It's worrisome that most heads of procurement don't have senior status and more than three-quarters of procurement staff don't have a professional designation,' he said.
PFmar2004
