Press Releases

Government Seeks Suppliers To Boost Public Sector High-Speed Internet Access

The Government's 'centre of excellence' for public sector procurement, the Office of Government Commerce (OGC), today begins its search for suitable suppliers to support the Government's drive to widen public sector access to high-speed Broadband internet access, Peter Gershon, OGC Chief Executive, announced today.

An advertisement inviting suppliers to register their interest in bidding appears in today's Official Journal of the European Communities (OJEC) and signals the first step in the letting of framework agreements, which will enable buyers to obtain the best value for money when purchasing Broadband Internet services.

Once in place, the agreements will allow user organisations to obtain high-speed Internet connections and related services at advantageous prices and are an early result of OGC's ongoing work on Broadband procurement.

OGC Chief Executive Peter Gershon said:

 "Since OGC was established just over two years ago, our collaborative procurement arrangements have saved the public sector hundreds of millions of pounds. I am delighted that we will be able to offer further value for money savings for Broadband buyers."

OGC's procurement arm, OGCbuying.solutions, will both let and manage the framework agreements. David Court, OGCbuying.solutions' Chief Executive, said:

"We already provide Internet, telephone and mobile communication services to over 300,000 public servants. We look forward to working closely with our customers and industry to offer ever improving value in Broadband services."

The OGC will be concentrating on the provision of commodity Broadband services, such as DSL, Cable and Satellite.

1.In his speech to the CBI on 5 November 2001, the Prime Minister said: "We spend millions every year on IT and communications. It is clear that if we can manage our role as purchaser better we can both improve value for money and have a significant impact on the availability of broadband. "So we are asking the Office of Government Commerce to look at whether there is more that can be done to help government departments and others buy broadband more effectively."

2. Press enquiries to Martin Day at the Office of Government Commerce 020 7211 1318/1366 or Martin.Day@ogc.gsi.gov.uk

3. Established in April 2000, the OGC was set up to act as a catalyst in procurement issues and to work with civil departments to achieve best value for money in their commercial activities. Responsible for civil central government procurement policy and best practice including Construction, Property Management, IT, the Private Finance Initiative (PFI), supplier relations including opening government contracts to SMEs, e-commerce including the Government Procurement Card, the Gateway Review Process, OGCbuying.solutions, including the Government buying catalogues, G-Cat and S-Cat and developing strategic procurement partnerships with the private sector.