Treasury sets out public procurement reforms

A range of public procurement reforms were unveiled on Wednesday by John Healey, financial secretary to the Treasury.

The measures to be introduced are set out in the document Transforming Government Procurement, which was launched at the London Best Value in Public Sector Procurement Conference.

The measures include:

• reforming the Government Procurement Service, raising its status within government departments and increasing the skills of procurement professionals, to make it more flexible and focus resources where they are most needed.
• raising procurement capacity within departments and introducing procurement capability reviews to assess whether they meet the demanding standards required to deliver value for money now and in the future.
• making greater use of the government's collective buying power and market engagement in collaborative approaches to innovative procurement.
• broadening the Major Projects Review Group to ensure complex procurement projects are subject to effective scrutiny at key stages, such as approval of the business case.

The Office of Government Commerce (OGC) is to be given powers to set out the procurement standards departments need to meet. It will monitor departments' performance against them, require inter-departmental collaboration where appropriate, and it will support the Major Projects Review Group.

OGC will become a smaller, higher calibre organisation as a result of the changes.

Healey said: "Over the next decade, procurement will become more fundamental to achieving both value for money for taxpayers and in delivering sustainable world class public services. What we now need is a procurement service that is better equipped with an increased capability to help ensure central government meets these challenges."