Nearly half of all central government bodies are losing
money because they are failing to take advantage of cheap
licences for software and telecommunications, according to a
report from the
Commons Public Accounts Committee.
Public sector bodies wasted £415m overall in unnecessary
procurement costs for goods and services last year, with the low
take-up of cheap software licences being one example of wasted
expenditure.
The government central purchasing agency,
OGCbuying.solutions, which sells goods and services to the
public sector, was criticised by the committee for not doing enough
to promote money-saving schemes to its customers.
The organisation said that in response it was implementing a
“major change programme” which it says will “take forward a range
of actions to substantially increase its impact and role in public
sector procurement.”
Central government organisations are also failing to use
eProcurement despite potential price savings when using
eAuctions
of 20 to 25% compared to historic prices, the PAC said. The
OGCbuying.solutions’ website
is also too difficult to use, something it says will be
improved.
The committee’s report said 47% of central government
organisations do not use the
Microsoft memorandum of understanding, which gives a
volume-based discount, with 25% being unaware of the scheme.
The problem, the committee said, is that the agency does not
have enough business acumen to publicise opportunities available to
customers.
They said annual value-for-money savings could increase by £500m
if customers used framework agreements operated by the agency,
rather than tendering their own contracts.
An OGCbuying.solutions spokesman said, “The new chief executive
Alison Littley has initiated a major change programme which will
result in a step change in the organisation’s capability to deliver
savings in live with the potential outlined in the report.”
Government to get extra MS discount >>
OGC deal secures public sector hardware savings >>
OGCbuying.solutions >>
Comment on this article:
computer.weekly@rbi.co.uk