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As part its commitment to change the way that Government does business, the Minister for the Cabinet Office, Francis Maude today outlined new plans to improve the way that Government deals with its major suppliers(April 13th) From now on, ‘Crown Representatives’ will ensure that Government receives the best value for money, by ensuring that the Government acts as a single customer. They will put an end to the days when departments were able to sign up – without any central control or coordination - to a series of different contracts with the same supplier.
The Crown Representatives group will also be responsible for developing ‘emerging players’ to the market, ensuring best value through new competition for public contracts. These appointments follow the renegotiation of contracts with over 50 suppliers since July last year. The renegotiations have saved the Government £800 million in 2010/11. Francis Maude said: Our priority is to make sure the taxpaying public gets the best possible deal - and one of the ways of doing this is to ensure we’re really using the scale of government to push down prices. That is why any dealings with our big suppliers have to be coordinated and our approach has to be strategic – the new Crown Representatives will make sure this happens. “Today’s announcement shows that we were serious about changing the way that Government does business. We have already saved £800 million since May by starting to establish Government as a single customer. But, in doing this we also recognised that we need better, more efficient relationships with suppliers over the long term. “The value of a single representative, acting on behalf of all departments, became apparent during the contract renegotiations. It brought benefits for both sides - bringing a complete picture of a supplier’s portfolio of contracts to the discussions and able to identifying opportunities for synergy and cost removal." New members of the team of Crown Representatives announced today:
New Crown Representative, David Thomas said: "Government is a complex and large buyer of goods and services and it is entirely appropriate to adopt the Crown Representative model in order to manage the top end of our supply chain effectively.” The new Crown Representatives will join Stephen Allott, Crown Representative responsible for building a more strategic dialogue between government and smaller suppliers, and Stephen Kelly, Crown Representative responsible for supporting mutualisation of public services, both of whom bring expertise directly from the private sector. The Crown Representatives will work with an initial pool of strategic suppliers, made up of a mix of existing major suppliers and some who are new or emerging to central government. Each Crown Representative will be responsible for managing the relationship with a defined group of suppliers.
Source: Cabinet Office |
| Written by Scott Buckler |
| Wednesday, 13 April 2011 14:02 |
