Press Releases

OGC Opens Up Public Sector Choice Through Revised Framework Agreements

The Office of Government Commerce (OGC) is set to expand the categories contained within the Government's framework agreements for consultancy and specialist service providers, OGC Chief Executive, Peter Gershon, announced today.

An advertisement in the Official Journal of the European Communities (OJEC) invites service providers to register their interest in bidding for inclusion in the revised Services Catalogue (known as 'S-CAT'). Firms, which are successful in this competition, will be included in the catalogue and able to undertake various types of consultancy and specialist services work for public sector bodies. However, as the framework will be awarded in accordance with the EC rules (OJEC), subsequent call offs will not be subject to the competition requirements of these rules

Commenting on the benefits of the S-CAT agreement, Peter Gershon said:

"This is yet another example of how harnessing government's combined purchasing power can produce real value for money benefits for the taxpayer.

The new framework agreements will enable public sector organisations to buy a wide range of consultancy and business services both quickly and efficiently, at very competitive rates. Similarly, it will also reduce the bid costs incurred by suppliers in dealing with government.

I particularly hope that many small and medium sized suppliers will participate in this competition."

The April 2001 National Audit Office (NAO) Report, Purchasing Professional Services, identified potential savings of at least 10% on the £600m departments currently spend on professional services. The new S-CAT agreements will contribute to these savings through the inclusion of Professional Services categories such as Human Resources (including Recruitment, Interim Management and HR-related consultancy) and Financial Services (including Accountancy, Audit and Finance-related consultancy). Therefore, the revised S-CAT agreement forms part of OGC's response to the NAO Report.

In a separate development, OGC has signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the Scottish Executive (SE) which will allow the Executive to use S-CAT to buy business services as and when required, thereby ensuring that the SE can also take advantage of the competitive prices offered by the contract.

Service Providers need to register their interest in bidding no later than 31^st October 2002.

NOTES TO EDITORS:

1. 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.

2. The present format of the S-CAT catalogue, which has been running since 1997, currently contains 78 service providers spread over 13 categories. Among the new categories included are:

· Geographic Information Services and Systems (for further information click the link http://www.ordsvy.gov.uk/)

· Business Information and Research Services.

3. The S-CAT advertisement in OJEC can be viewed by clicking on the following link;

http://ted.eur-op.eu.int/dynamic/doccur/en/en/YgSt/0/151701-2002.htm?CDBNR=&QFILE=&SID=oHLe

4. The NAO identified £610M expenditure on Professional Services (for the financial year 99-00). They identified 4 major areas of interest - Management Consultancy, Legal Services, Financial Consultancy and Human Resource advice and assistance. Click on the link to view this Report http://www.nao.gov.uk/pn/00-01/0001400.htm

5. The provision of framework agreements for Legal Services will be the subject of a separate initiative to be announced in due course.

6. Over the last Financial Year, the S-CAT arrangement saw £193m spent on service provision. This current Financial Year, the turnover is anticipated to see this uptake increase to £250m, demonstrating the increased use being made of framework agreements by the public sector.

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