Press Releases

Office of Government Commerce Open for Business

Andrew Smith, Chief Secretary to the Treasury, today formally opened the Office of Governmen Commerce (OGC) with its Chief Executive, Peter Gershon, and declared the Office `open for business'.

Mr Smith was visiting the new OGC headquarters in London on day one of the new organisation, set up to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of the Government's £13 billion annual civil procurement budget.

Speaking at the launch Andrew Smith said:

"This is a defining moment in the way future procurement deals will be conducted. In the developing electronic age, we must seize the opportunity to combine a new era of central Government efficiency with the huge potential from its civil procurement buying to deliver real savings for the taxpayer.

I am confident that the OGC will drive the achievement of best practice in this huge area of new Government spend and will help to deliver the Government's modernisation and competitiveness agenda."

Peter Gershon said:

"Now the waiting is over there is a great opportunity to make a real difference to how Government undertakes procurement. I want the OGC to become the catalyst for the achievement of excellent value for money by Government through the use of best practice techniques.

Our future is exciting and challenging. Our greatest strength is, and will be, the people who work in OGC and our ability to develop high levels of coherence and consistency in our methods and approaches to OGC outputs. I want to progressively align our structure and resources to meet these aspirations."

Mr Gershon identified a five point plan to harness the strength of the new organisation and his immediate priorities to build an organisation that could be held up as the catalyst for change:

• securing the best possible quality and value for money for its suppliers;
• identifying the "best in class" approaches and practices and assisting in their implementation;
• establishing common measurement techniques for procurement spend;
• using e-commerce techniques to revolutionise procurement having regard to issues of culture, processes, systems and network connectivity and those relating to technology;
• introducing techniques like the procurement card and e-procurement which have an important role to play in freeing up resources to concentrate on high value added activities.

Mr Gershon said that he had long been a committed champion of Investors in People and the EFQM Business Excellence Model and said he was determined to use these as tools to help build an organisation that would be a benchmark for future development across the whole range of Government policy. He added:

"Value for money should be the basis of every procurement decision involving taxpayers money. There needs to be much greater awareness that the Government's environmental agenda and the value for money policy are complementary. My own experience in industry convinces me that full consideration of environmental factors can play an important role in reducing whole life costs and, in due course, I shall be giving particular impetus to this aspect."

Mr Gershon identified £1 billion of efficiency savings over a three year period when he conducted his review for the UK Government on civil procurement last year.

NOTES TO EDITORS

• HM Treasury announced on 22 July 1999 that the Office of Government Commerce would become the Government's centre of excellence in procurement on 3 April 2000.
• The OGC will bring coherence to the purchasing activity of some 200 Government Departments, non-governmental bodies and agencies employing some 5000 staff on procurement tasks and spending some £13 billion of taxpayers' money every year. The OGC will perform an important role in the government's modernisation and competitiveness agenda and will ensure best value for this major element of public expenditure.
• The Treasury further announced on 11 February this year that Peter Gershon would become its Chief Executive and Brian Rigby its Deputy Chief Executive. Mr Gershon had previously undertaken a review for the UK Government on Civil Procurement.
• The OGC takes on the staff of Central Computer and Telecommunications Agency (CCTA), Property Advisers to the Civil Estate (PACE), The Buying Agency (TBA) together with some procurement staff from HM Treasury and the Cabinet Office.
• The OGC is an Office of HM Treasury.
• Press calls to Malcolm Graves, HM Treasury Press Office on 020 7270 5192.
• This news release is available on the OGC's website at: www.ogc.gov.uk