UKprocure makes eProcurement work for local government and education organisations, by helping them to purchase smarter and more efficiently.

We understand that cost savings aren’t the only driver for local authorities. UKprocure’s proven eProcurement solutions support the way local authorities purchase and help them manage the simultaneous challenges of efficiency targets, local economic rejuvenation, e-government and the constant drive to deliver the best value services to tax payers.

In just five years and with no government assistance, UKprocure has built up the largest eProcurement network in the public sector. Over seventy public sector organisations are placing orders with more than 600 suppliers each month. These organisations have voted with their feet, embracing the streamlined, strategic and collaborative procurement made possible by our solutions.

With in-depth experience of local government and education procurement and suppliers, UKprocure understands where and how to take the cost out of procurement. Our solutions empower local authorities and education organisations to negotiate better prices for goods and services and facilitate the achievement of significant efficiency savings from every transaction. Our solutions are used by individual organisations and collaborative networks to make eProcurement deliver real benefits.

Harnessing our robust technology solutions, our unrivalled knowledge of how and what local government and education organisations purchase and our ability to facilitate electronic trading with the leading suppliers to the public sector, we are helping our customers achieve the savings promised by eProcurement.

eProcurement is an economic imperative for local government and education organisations. The effective use of IT within the procurement process facilitates collaborative working and enables streamlined, strategic and cost-effective procurement. There is a huge groundswell within the public sector to reap the dramatic cost and time savings that eProcurement can deliver. There is also a move for organisations to work together collaboratively, to maximise the savings they make from innovative procurement.

E-enabling the procurement cycle, from sourcing and requisitioning through to catalogue management and document transmission, delivers proven cost reduction, as well significant process efficiencies. This is achieved through automating the procurement process, improved accuracy, enabling efficient communications between buyers and suppliers and the delivery of management information to provide better control over spend.

The move towards eProcurement is a political directive as well as an economic necessity. eProcurement is a major goal of the modernisation programme right across the public sector. The ODPM’s ‘National Procurement Strategy for Local Government’ states that all council’s must be procuring electronically by 2005 and must have access to an eMarketplace by 2006. Online facilities to enable a minimum of paperless ordering, invoicing and payment are a ‘Priority Service Outcome’ (PSO) within the Implementing eGovernment (IEG) targets and strong performance in procurement will be a key factor in the awards of the Beacon Council Scheme of 2007/08.

At the same time, local authorities are facing challenging efficiency targets after the Gershon Efficiency Review. The Government Spending Review has set a target of efficiency savings for every local authority of 2.5% per annum for the next three years, with the current year acting as a baseline. At least half of these efficiency gains should be cashable, enabling resources to be re-directed, rather than securing efficiency through improved productivity. eProcurement provides a cost-effective and measurable way to help achieve these targets.

Why is eProcurement so high on the political agenda? Quite simply, because it helps public sector organisations achieve significant cost and time savings, which can be harnessed to deliver better value for money and improved services to citizens. A study commissioned by the ‘National e-procurement Project’ (NePP) estimates that modernised procurement will result in a £1.1billion reduction in the price of goods and services. This equates to an average saving of £4.9 million for county councils, £3.5 million for unitary councils and £0.4 million for district councils. The study also estimates that ePurchasing can deliver average savings of £26 per transaction.