OGC reshuffle to improve procurement guidance

The Office of Government Commerce (OGC) has merged its construction and development division in a bid to focus on improving procurement knowledge across government departments.

With former construction director Deryk Eke returning to BAA at the end of his secondment, the merged department  - under the new name of the performance improvement division - will see three heads of control.

Project sponsors, which provide advice to one-off or occasional government departments on procurement, will now come under the control of Mike Burt, who was formally in charge of disposals.

Procurement advice will now come under the control of Michael Corcoran to help give advice to departments which don't need a project sponsor but need some general advice.

The new division will be overseen by Arnold Butler.

An OGC spokesman said: "I think we realised that Deryk had a huge remit to cover. Procurement is ever changing and becoming more demanding. This way we can tackle all areas as an effective unit."