Press Releases

New Government Guidance Will Improve Public Sector Value For Money From Management Consultancies - Peter Gershon

The Government, in conjunction with the National Audit Office (NAO), the Management Consultancies Association and the Institute of Management Consultancy, today publishes a new joint statement of best practice, which offers guidelines to both management consultancies and public sector on how to deliver better, more effective consultancy services to government.

Peter Gershon, Chief Executive of the Office of Government Commerce (OGC), the Government's commercial specialists within public sector purchasing, believes today's publication will enhance understanding of the public sector marketplace by suppliers of consultancy services.

Commenting on the publication, Peter Gershon said:

"By adopting the principles highlighted in this new guidance, not only can significant value for money improvements be realised, but by working more closely to a common agenda, I believe both government and suppliers of management consultancy services can enjoy a higher level of service delivery.

The work OGC is undertaking in this area ensures that we in the UK are at the leading edge of developing collaboration of this nature across central government. "

Speaking on behalf of the NAO, Sir John Bourn, Comptroller and Auditor General said:

"I am delighted to endorse this guide and welcome the fact that it incorporates so many of the recommendations made by the National Audit Office and the Public Accounts Committee. Full compliance with the guide would represent a significant step forward in the quality of public sector purchasing."

Entitled 'Delivering world-class consultancy services to the public sector - A statement of best practice', the guidance sets out a number of proven 'must do' principles for both public sector buyers and private sector suppliers, covering the entire procurement cycle from initial negotiations through to project completion. The guidance identifies two main principles for project success, which is the need to allocate responsibilities appropriately between departments and a requirement for suppliers to work towards common goals with their public sector clients.

The publication complements the current re-competition of OGC's 'catalogue' of approved consultancy service suppliers to the public sector (S-CAT), which seeks to deliver overall value-for-money savings of around 10% on public sector spending on all aspects of consultancy.

Mark Woods, OGC's Director of Collaborative Opportunities who led on the development of the Statement for OGC commented:

"In my experience, one of the key reasons why contracts of any sort fail is because both parties fail to understand how the other side works. This document is a major step forward in helping to eliminate those kinds of misunderstandings."

NOTES TO EDITORS

1. Click on the following link to view the Guidance in full: /embedded_object.asp?docid=2883
2. In its April 2001 National Audit Office (NAO) Report, Purchasing Professional Services, 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. Please click on the link to view the relevant NAO press release, the full NAO Report and its accompanying executive summary http://www.nao.gov.uk/pn/00-01/0001400.htm
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.
4. Press enquiries to OGC to Martin Day on 020 7271 1318/1366 or e-mail at Martin.Day@ogc.gsi.gov.uk
5. Contact the Management Consultancies Association via their website on www.mca.org.uk
6. Contact the Institute of Management Consultancy via their website on www.imc.co.uk