The Office of Government Commerce has announced a
procurement deal that will give public sector organisations
discounts of up to 45% on IT hardware.
Treasury agency OGC and its OGCbuying.solutions trading arm
struck the deal after conducting a competition among suppliers for
desktop PCs, laptops and screens.
The agreement is aimed at giving public sector bodies an easy,
efficient procurement route, combined with the lowest possible
total cost of ownership. The discounted prices will apply to public
sector bodies regardless of how many units they purchase.
The deal follows a procurement exercise in which pre-qualified
suppliers that were signed up to OGCbuying.solutions’ Catalist
framework for IT goods and hardware were asked to quote prices
against a common set of specifications.
OGCbuying.solutions chief executive Hugh Barret said the
specifications had been designed to handle current proprietary
software packages and subsequent releases.
“With high specification, quality laptops available at around
£430 and desktops at around £280, this is a significant
breakthrough for public sector customers and will save them time
and money in the purchasing process,” he said.
The initiative – dubbed Great Deals – will be “refreshed” on a
quarterly basis to ensure that products and prices remain
competitive, the OGC said.
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