News

Signpost to savings: new collaborative procurement identification mark launched to boost public sector buying efficiencies

Released on 14/01/2010

The public sector's procurement efficiency drive has been given an extra lift today with the introduction of an identification mark to signpost the public sector to collaborative frameworks, best practice advice and guidance for specific collaborative procurement initiatives.

The new identification mark will give even greater visibility of the value for money solutions that exist, providing a quick, easy and visual way to help more public sector organisations get more value for money from their spend.

Last month, the OGC announced £1.4 billion was saved in the public sector in 2008/09 through collaborative procurement deals and initiatives, which includes pooling together the spending power of organisations to get better deals on major areas of spend such as on energy, travel, professional services, construction and ICT. The identification mark is set to encourage greater engagement with the collaborative procurement programme, which the Operational Efficiency Programme has identified could achieve up to £7.7 billion savings for the taxpayer per year by 2013/14.

Speaking about the launch of the Collaborative Procurement identification mark, Nigel Smith, Chief Executive of the Office of Government Commerce, said:

"Significant value-for-money savings have already been made as part of public sector engagement with collaborative procurement initiatives, and this new signpost will strengthen the programme of current activity and build on those achievements. Obtaining maximum value from spend has never had a higher priority than now, and public sector buyers should look out for the identification mark when making their buying decisions."

The new identification mark will be rolled out over the next few months across the current specific spend categories of the collaborative procurement programme, and will be managed by the Collaborative Category Boards (CCB) for each area of spend. Public sector procurement professionals wanting more general information about the identification mark should contact the OGC's Service Desk on 0845 000 4999.

Please visit the OGC website for more information.

Notes to editor

Images of the identification mark are available upon request via the OGC press office for use by media outlets.

The Collaborative Procurement identification mark
The Collaborative Procurement mark is a brand logo designed for the wide range of audiences across central government and the wider public sector. Its purpose is to signpost procurement practitioners to the specific procurement initiatives and outputs which seek to deliver savings within the pan-government's Collaborative Procurement programme.

The logo is a trademark owned by the Office of Government Commerce (OGC). The Collaborative Category Boards (CCB) for each category of spend covered by the pan-government collaborative procurement programme will decide whether an application to apply the mark is approved and will manage its use.

The Collaborative Procurement identification mark will only be used for those public sector bodies that:  

• are involved and engaged with the pan-government procurement programme;
• have been granted approval use the Collaborative Procurement identification mark or a specific initiative or output for which they have applied;       
• are endorsed by their CCB or a relevant forum.

These organisations include all those who support the programme and will include Central Government departments, non departmental public bodies, executive agencies, Professional Buying Organisations and their direct customers, Regional Efficiency and Improvements Partnerships and the Office of Government Commerce.

The Collaborative Procurement identification mark will be used on the following materials relating to a specific collaborative procurement initiative or output which is aligned to the category strategy and which seeks to deliver quantifiable value for money benefit to a category within the Collaborative Procurement programme:

• Collaborative frameworks / contracts endorsed by their CCB and which deliver benefit to the collaborative category strategy;
• Category-specific marketing literature, produced by a participating organisation on behalf of the programme;
• Procurement guidance and procurement policy;
• Best practice buying guides and procurement toolkits;
• General marketing of the initiative or output: including newsletters, flyers, event and presentation materials, stand banners, photography;
• Letter-heads, email content, email banners, email headers, and email footers relating to the initiative or output; 
• Web site pages, web portals, online tools and electronic systems.

Permission to use the Collaborative Procurement identification mark in any context and in any media must first be obtained in writing. 

About the OGC

The OGC is an independent office of HM Treasury, established to help government deliver best value from its spending. The OGC works with central government departments and other public sector organisations to ensure the achievement of six key goals:

• Delivery of value for money from third party spend;   
• Delivery of projects to time, quality and cost, realising benefits;  
• Getting the best from the government's £30bn estate;  
• Improving the sustainability of the government estate and operations, including reducing carbon emissions by 12.5% by 2010-11, through stronger performance management and guidance;  
• Helping achieve delivery of further government policy goals, including innovation, equality, and support for small and medium enterprises (SMEs);  
• And driving forward the improvement of central government capability in procurement, project and programme management, and estates management through the development of people skills, processes and tools.

OGC provides policy standards and guidance on best practice in procurement, projects and estate management, and monitors and challenges departments' performance against these standards, grounded in an evidence base of information and assurance. It promotes and fosters collaborative procurement across the public sector to deliver better value for money and better public services; and it provides innovative ways to develop government's commercial and procurement capability, including leadership of the Government Procurement Service.

Media contact:
Michael Dunning, Media Relations Manager, OGC
T: 020 7271 1318
M: 07771 815245
E: michael.dunning@ogc.gsi.gov.uk

Contact details:
OGC Service Desk
Tel: 0845 000 4999
E-mail: ServiceDesk@ogc.gsi.gov.uk