31 October 2008
By Paul Dicken
Collaborative procurement saved £650m last year, according to the Office of Government Commerce, which said greater effort would be made to achieve better value from spending in the wider public sector.
In its annual report, the OGC, an independent office of the Treasury, outlined how it will pursue the 2007 Transforming Government Procurement initiative.
Exchequer secretary Angela Eagle said: 'With major construction projects on the horizon, getting public sector procurement right has never been more important. That also means using our spending power in delivering better value in improved procurement approaches across the social and environmental arena.'
The OGC's report, published on October 31, also reported on efforts to reduce the government estate. It said that requiring departments to justify their use of property in London and the Southeast had saved £67m in rent. The target to relocate 20,000 civil service posts outside of this region was also on track, with 15,700 moved by the end of December 2007 and 'relocations happening every month'.
OGC chief executive Nigel Smith said the current economic climate and the targets set out in the 2007 Comprehensive Spending Review meant the public sector would have to work even harder within a tighter spending regime. The OGC's strategy to help in this included ensuring 'deals resulting from best practice procurement' were made available across the broader public sector.
It would also seek to address 'real gaps identified from cross-government issues, including lack of consistency in measurement and the challenge' to ensure money was well spent, not only at the centre but by agencies and non-departmental public bodies.
The OGC has set up Procurement Capability Reviews for Whitehall departments to intensively review 'commercial capability'. It has also established a Centre of Expertise in Sustainable Procurement, to help achieve environmental targets for offices such as reducing waste, water use and carbon emissions and boosting recycling.
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