WIREDGOV

As the government looks to all organisations to do more with less, the Efficiency and Reform Group has made it clear that aggregation is a key enabler of savings in the procurement of common goods and services.Government Procurement Card (GPC) helps organisations to  achieve process efficiencies and greater transparency of spend, so if you are not already using GPC we would encourage you to consider doing so in order to deliver significant savings for your organisation. Even if you are already using GPC, or a card programme outside the Buying Solutions GPC framework agreement, now could be a good time to review your current arrangements and join the aggregation.

The first aggregated procurement for GPC is now well underway involving a number of organisations from across the public sector, and we’d like to invite you to consider taking part in the second phase which we plan will be awarded in June. There are a number of advantages to this aggregated approach, whether you are new to GPC or just reviewing your current service provision, including:

• Being spared the resource and cost of managing your own Further Competition
• Expectation of greater value, savings and service provision, for example, obtaining better levels of rebate based on an aggregated spend
• Achieving savings by adopting the standard service provision of the selected service provider

To proceed with this initiative and achieve the results we anticipate we will need all stakeholders to participate fully in terms of contribution, resource and commitment through to award.

In the first instance, the aggregation team would like to know whether you are interested in joining this aggregated procurement. Please respond by 11 February 2011 by email to epayments@buyingsolutions.gsi.gov.uk.

We will then contact you to advise on the next steps which will involve a representative from your organisation joining a stakeholder meeting to discuss the process and the drafting of requirements.