Thursday, 23 June 2011

Is this the end for ‘bonkers’ procurement?


“It is bonkers for different parts of Government to be paying vastly different prices for exactly the same goods. We are putting a stop to this madness which has been presided over for too long.”

That’s the Cabinet Office minister Francis Maude, quoted in The Daily Telegraph, as the government targets billions of pounds worth of savings in procurement.

Public bodies have been paying as little as £350 and as much as £2,000 for the same laptop, according to Mr Maud, says the Telegraph.

The problem of paying too much for the same thing made headline news last autumn. Sir Philip Green’s Efficiency Review sounded the alarm – and this blog provided its own insights.

The right tools and mindset is required to achieve big savings. And it’s been happening for years in local government. A lesson surely for central government?

Do you have a hunch you’re paying too much? Would you like to benchmark the numbers?

EGS has helped organisations reduce their key commodity costs by an average 20%, thanks to our Cost Reduction Analysis service. This compares like-for-like goods and services with those available in nationally-agreed contracts. But unlike most services of this nature, which simply hand you a report together with a bill, EGS will take it a step further.

The nationally-agreed contracts are all on EGS’s e-marketplace. So not only will we tell you which contracts will save you money, we will connect you to them online instantly. Savings start straight away. And there’s no need to go out to tender.

Contact EGS for a case study on our Cost Reduction Analysis service if you’re interested.