News

eProcurement saves £4m for NHS Trust

Released on 04/09/2006

St Mary's NHS Trust, in London Paddington, has become the first public sector organisation to reap the benefits of buying goods and services electronically. This will save the Trust more than £4 million over the next five years.

The Trust has taken on eProcurement transactions - set up in June by OGCbuying.solutions - and now uses an eProcurement solution, from CedarOpenAccounts (COA), to acquire goods and service in the Zanzibar online marketplace, also set up by our trading arm, OGCbuying.solutions.

The eProcurement project was successfully implemented by PA Shared Services Limited, COA and OGCbuying.solutions - working in partnership with St Mary's - as part of the North West London Procurement Confederation's initiative.

"The 17 NHS Trusts in the Northwest London Procurement Confederation spend almost a billion pounds a year on supplies, and the potential for making savings is enormous," said  Mansel Chamberlain, procurement director, Northwest London NHS Procurement Confederation. "Five of the largest Trusts, representing over 50 per cent of expenditure, are now committed to rolling out Zanzibar, which will save St Mary's, alone, more than £4 million over the next five years."

"St Mary's demonstrates that trading electronically with suppliers on the Zanzibar managed service can bring huge benefits, in terms of saving time and money in the procurement process," said Hugh Barrett, OGCbuying.solutions' Chief Executive. "St Mary's experience shows that the transition to Zanzibar can be achieved quickly, with little disruption to the organisation. We are pleased to have worked with CedarOpenAccounts in an effective collaborative manner to connect to Zanzibar. We anticipate working together on many more Zanzibar connections."

PA Shared Services Limited's Senior Industry Executive Veera Johnson said: "St Mary's NHS Trust is a great first example of how these efficiencies can be realised through the implementation of Zanzibar. Along with the other NHS trusts in the North West London Confederation, Zanzibar will provide a fully end-to-end eProcurement solution that e-enables all of their suppliers, both the SME and larger suppliers.

"The Zanzibar managed service represents a major step towards delivering procurement efficiencies across the whole UK public sector. Zanzibar will also provide the NHS trusts with vital spend intelligence, allowing them to renegotiate contracts and manage their procurement efficiently, moving forward."

PA Shared Services Limited has worked closely with COA to ensure the St Mary's implementation was successful. The company, wholly owned by the PA Consulting Group, coordinated and managed the project, and was responsible for bringing the right software and services together.

COA  Managing  Director Mark Thompson said: "This is a great achievement for St Mary's and the North West London Procurement Confederation. CedarOpenAccounts is committed to work in partnership with PA Consulting Group and OGCbuying.solutions, enabling other public sector organisations to achieve their Gershon efficiency targets and transformational Government objectives.

"With St Mary's NHS Trust now live, CedarOpenAccounts is working on further opportunities with PA Consulting, to ensure that other NHS Trusts looking to transact in this way, can do so quickly and effectively and take advantage of the business benefits on offer."

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