What it is: The Institute of Directors has published a report on the amount of money wasted by the public sector on the £220bn of services it procures annually.
When it came out: 19 March 2010
Why it is important: The IoD says the public sector could save £25bn a year within three years if it managed its procurement and outsourcing better. In this report it also sets out the way it thinks it could do this, including more collaborative procurement and a new procurement agency led by the Office of Government …

The public sector is wasting £15bn a year on badly organised procurement and £10bn on shared services and outsourcing, the Institute of Directors has revealed.
The Institute of Directors has reported today that the government could save £25bn a year by 2013 if it overhauls its methods of procurement. The report provides suggestions for how they could do this by encouraging bodies to work more closely together rather than procuring services separately.
UK public sector procurement spend is £220bn a year, making it one third of the total government expenditure.
The IoD said …

The Office of Government Commerce is due to report on skills gaps among public sector property managers this spring to help government save money from managing its properties better.
Vice Admiral Tim Laurence, head of the Property Asset Management profession at OGC and the chief executive of the Ministry of Defence property arm Defence Estates, told Public Property UK that the OGC would publish initial findings this spring. He said this would inform the OGC how it can give more training to public sector property managers.
Laurence’s role at OGC involves representing …

Treasury body the Office of Government Commerce has started an incentive scheme to encourage public sector bodies to procure goods and services jointly.
Today, the OGC announced it has launched a badge for those who procure services in collaboration with other public sector bodies. Collaborative procurement allows public sector bodies to make savings by procuring services together, so they can make savings based on efficiencies of scale.
The OGC announced last month that in 2008/9 the public sector saved £1.4bn through collaborative procurement deals. These can be done in areas including professional …

Whitehall departments will need to make savings on the £220bn that the government spends each year procuring goods and services under a new regime of targets that is due to start this spring.
Today, Treasury body the Office of Government Commerce – which is tasked with saving public money by promoting efficiency in the public services – launched its Policy Through Procurement Action Plan. The aim is to get tough on waste from government departments and use procurement to advance three policy agendas:

To  lower the barriers for small and medium-sized enterprises …

What it is: The Policy Through Procurement Action Plan is the Office of Government Commerce strategy for making savings from the £220bn that the government spends each year on procuring goods and services.
When it came out: 11 January 2010
Why it is important: It sets out the OGC strategy for government to forward its policy aims of encouraging small and medium sized enterprises to bid for government contracts, and using procurement to reduce the government’s carbon dioxide emissions.
To read the full plan click here: Policy Through Procurement Action Plan

What it is: The Office of Government Commerce has launched guidance for public sector procurers and private sector developers on the Remedies Directive, new rules on EU procurement that entered UK law on 20 December 2009.
When it came out: 7 January 2010
Why it is important: These three guidance documents explain the impact of new rules that make it easier for losing bidders for Official Journal of European Union contracts to challenge the contract award.
To read the full guidance click on the links below:
OGC Remedies Directive guidance – part one
OGC Remedies …

The government must put more pressure on its suppliers to cut their carbon emissions, the government’s green agency said today.
This morning, the Office of Government Commerce has revealed that the government cut its carbon emissions 10% in the 2008/9 financial year. It said this put Whitehall departments in a strong position to cut carbon emissions 12.5% by the end of March 2011 compared to the 1999/2000 baseline.
However, the Sustainable Development Commission – the government watchdog on sustainable development – said it still needed to do more to encourage its suppliers …