The Government has a mind-boggling £12bn annual procurement budget that stretches across all departments. Last year a search was launched to find better ways to spend all that money, and the results are likely to be announced next week.
Front-running idea is the creation of a new Office of Government Commerce that will coordinate and manage the broad spread of procurement policies, including those that apply to public-private partnerships. The OGC is in part intended to be a balance to UK Capital, the proposed new PFI funding vehicle which will be majority controlled by the private sector (see our story on this from earlier in the week.
Currently about 5000 staff are involved in procurement functions in 200 Government departments.
A private sector campaign, led by the CBI, has been underway for some time, advocating more efficiency and greater coordination in public sector purchasing.
Elliott Chase
