Musings on Government procurement

Over the last few weeks, the way that UK Government, and the broader public sector, procures has been getting a lot of airtime. Indeed, it is probably the most well worn topic of conversation when we are out and about talking to the leading suppliers of software and IT services (SITS) to the sector. There have been a number of announcements that have prompted discussion.

Perhaps most notable, towards the end of July, was the announcement that a new executive agency, called the Crown Commercial Service, would be established in the autumn. Then, a few days later the DVLA held the supplier event for the re-let of its major ICT contract. It was a chance, yet again, to see how much influence the Cabinet Office is having on procurements by individual departments and agencies.

But the announcements haven’t just been focused on Whitehall. In the last few days, the NHS announced its procurement strategy and made it clear that it was in awe of the procurement savings already achieved within central government. While we also noted that local government has had support from the Cabinet Office’s Government Procurement Service as it starts the procurement process for a framework focused on ‘line of business’ applications.

In UKHotViewsExtra, Georgina O’Toole looks at recent developments and considers the implications for public sector procurement and suppliers operating in the market. TechMarketView subscribers can access ‘Musings on Government procurement’ now. If you are not yet a subscriber, please contact Deb Seth.  

Posted by Georgina O'Toole at '17:56' - Tagged: publicsector   centralgovernment   localgovernment   nhs   procurement