17 February 2006
The Department for Work and Pensions has become the first major Whitehall body to sign up to the Office of Government Commerce's new on-line procurement service.
Officials at the DWP, which employs 120,000 civil servants and has an operating budget of £7bn per year, have signed up to use the OGC's 'Zanzibar' on-line market place.
OGC chief executive John Oughton said the service would become 'a key component in realising the government's efficiency and e-procurement targets', as well as providing an improved understanding of public sector demand.
The DWP must find savings of almost £1bn annually by 2008.Zanzibar, named after the world's oldest marketplace, is an e-purchasing hub that allows public sector users to access data on major suppliers in one forum.
It also allows customers to undertake transactions through the same site, and provides suppliers of all sizes with instant access to potential customers including, from this week, the DWP.
Many past attempts to establish e-purchasing sites had split such functions, or provided limited access to smaller suppliers.
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