UK public sector procurement told it must reform

Central government spending in the UK on ‘administration’, including procurement spend, could face cuts of between 30-50 per cent as part of the 25-40 per cent overall cost reduction challenges, as part of the Comprehensive Spending Review, according John Collington, head of procurement in the Cabinet Office’s

Efficiency and Reform Group.
Speaking at the Procurecon Public 2010 conference in London yesterday he emphasised the important contribution procurement teams would make to reducing the government’s £155 billion deficit.  And he offered examples of good practice he had seen in the public sector since joining, which he plans to better leverage as part of the new operating model for centralising commodity procurement. But he could not rule out the prospect of job cuts among buyers following the 20 October spending announcement.
Also speaking at the conference, David Smith, commercial director of the DWP said procurement’s new-found prominence in reducing the deficit did not make it immune to staff reduction. “There will be a common template that this is important – we need to have the right tools and the right people, [but] maybe fewer people as we move to share service centres, delivering things in a more efficient way.”

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