The Prison
Service is making progress in the way it uses IT to manage its
annual £450m procurement of goods and services, says the
National Audit Office.
In 2003, the NAO found that the Prison Service's procurement
function was "fragmented and costly to deliver". In a
new report, it says the Prison Service has implemented a new
procurement strategy, led by a new centralised professional
procurement team backed up by regional purchasing units, which
negotiate central contracts for a range of goods and services.
The Prison Service admitted however that its Oracle enterprise
resource planning system is capable of providing more reliable
management information and better information to suppliers.
The Prison Service has, up to now, maintained a database of
catalogues manually. But at the end of last month it introduced a
new function on its Oracle system, which aims to improve the
automation and control of this process.
At the same time, the Prison Service has introduced a shared
service centre to provide administrative functions, including
purchasing, for prisons.
The implementation of these reforms has enabled the Prison
Service to make significant savings in both purchasing and
administrative costs, the NAO said.
As a result of the changes, prisons now receive more consistent
supplies of goods and services, often at much lower prices than
previously.
"The Prison Service is still capable of making further savings.
In the near term it should concentrate its efforts on bringing more
expenditure under the remit of its nationally negotiated
contracts," the report says.
Tim Burr, head of the National Audit Office, said, "The Prison
Service has made real progress in how it buys goods and services
for prisons throughout the UK.
"The service spends around £450m a year and is securing a good
deal for the taxpayer in using that money. It could do better still
by extending the new approach to the whole of the
organisation."
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