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Suppliers will have single point of contact across all of Government, says auditor


Major suppliers to the Government will in future deal with a single civil servant in relation to contracts across all Government departments, the National Audit Office (NAO) has said.

The creation of single negotiators for big suppliers is part of Cabinet Office attempts to reduce the costs to Government of existing and future contracts.

"A new approach to managing supplier relationships in the longer-term is planned, with continued emphasis on government as an intelligent and ‘single’ customer," said a report into Government's use of information and communication technologies (ICT) (48-page / 459KB PDF).

"A number of Crown Commercial Representatives will be appointed as the central point of contact for a group of 20 to 25 suppliers. They will take a strategic, cross-government approach to their suppliers and will have the power to agree or prevent a contract extension," it said.

The NAO's report analyses the Government's use of IT systems and its attempts to reduce the cost of those systems and to use those systems to reduce the costs of Government. It said that progress had already been made.

"The Efficiency and Reform Group and the Minister for the Cabinet Office led discussions with key government ICT suppliers to agree Memoranda of Understanding to reduce contract costs,"

"Most suppliers of government ICT now have a Memorandum of Understanding ... that makes a commitment to reduced contract costs in the short-term."

"In December 2010, the Government announced 'the days of the mega IT contracts were over' and a limit of £100 million on contract sizes for ICT projects would be enforced," it said.

But the report noted that the Efficiency and Reform Group (ERG) had not yet produced guidelines on the £100m limit, and that the limit "may not be implemented".

The NAO said that it could not yet deliver a verdict on whether the Government's attempts to reform the use of IT were being successful.

"Most of the Efficiency and Reform Group’s initiatives are very recent, and it is too early to evaluate their effect," it said. "Some immediate financial impacts of the Group’s new controls have been reported by the Cabinet Office: the Government expects to save £3 billion in 2010-11 as a direct result of the Group’s actions, and that savings totalling £1 billion had already been achieved."

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