OGC to establish ‘pan-government e-auction Centre of Excellence’ :: PublicTechnology.net :: e-Government & public sector IT news + job vacancies:

The Office of Government Commerce (OGC) has announced it’s to set up the first pan-government e-auction Centre of Excellence, increasing the impact of e-auctions in the public sector.

The centre will have a remit to provide co-ordination and support for e-auctions across the wider public sector, particularly where there is scope for increased collaboration.

A number of e-auction programmes exist across Whitehall and the wider public sector, and the centre will look to harness greater efficiencies from these through supporting the co-ordination of resource, establishing a consistency of approach, and providing a platform for coalitions. It will aim to influence public sector spend of £820m and help achieve savings of over £250m by the end of 2010/11.

Speaking about the announcement, Nigel Smith, Chief Executive of the OGC said: “The new Centre of Excellence will systematically enhance the great work currently being achieved by existing public sector e-auction programmes through providing greater focus for consistency and best practice. It will also look to foster opportunities for better collaboration, marking a significant positive step forward in achieving the maximum potential outcomes from public sector e-auction activities.”

The Centre of Excellence will commence activity next year and build on existing activity, working closely with Regional Improvement and Efficiency Partnerships, Buying Solutions and other Professional Buying Organisations to recruit participants, sponsor the activity and support implementation. Where suitable, it will extend specific category support to the OGC’s Collaborative Procurement programme, aiming to arrange two e-auctions per month, in addition to providing the focus and support for public sector e-auction activity more widely.

The Pro5 group of Professional Buying Organisations will be supporting the OGC’s e-auction programme and planning for a specific e-auction for local government in ICT hardware is already underway and will be built from a Pro5 framework.

The announcement of the e-auction Centre of Excellence follows the recent publication of the pan-Government policy on the use of electronic systems to support procurement activity. This new policy requires public sector organisations to make progress towards achieving the outcomes outlined in the HM Treasury’s Operational Efficiency Programme (OEP) by maximising existing public sector investment in e-procurement systems and tools. The benefits this investment should create include:

• Increased value for money;
• Improved management information;
• Better visibility of collaborative contracts;
• Increased process efficiency;
• Enhanced operational capacity;
• Prompt payment of suppliers.

Speaking about the new policy, David Thomas, Commercial Director at HM Revenue and Customs said: “I welcome this policy document, which covers a very important but complex professional area. Across the public sector I can see organisations are at very different stages of e commerce maturity and we need this policy to help us to converge on a consistent model.”

To access the e-procurement policy visit: www.ogc.gov.uk.