PETER GERSHON WELCOMES ROLE OF PARTNERSHIPS UK

13/06/2000 Office of Government Commerce Peter Gershon, Chief Executive of the Office of Government Commerce (OGC) today welcomed Partnerships UK’s announcement of a cross section of projects under the Government’s private finance initiative (PFI) and public private partnerships (PPPs). Mr Gershon said: "I support Partnerships UK’s business objectives and their aims to bring scarce PPP expertise to public sector procurers. Their progress and involvement in these projects will give considerable impetus in developing innovative and conventional forms of PPPs. "Partnerships UK brings hands-on implementation skills to bear on individual PPP projects, while OGC’s role is a strategic one, spreading best practice with the aim of improving the Government’s performance in all forms of procurement. "I am confident that OGC and Partnerships UK will complement one another, ensuring that the success of the Treasury Taskforce is built on and the use of PFI for public sector purchasers to achieve best value for money is ongoing." Mr Gershon said that with the proposed gateway review process that OGC intends to put in place for central civil governments, it would be able to identify effective procurement at key stages of the process. This would incentivise departments to seek proper advice and resources, so increasing the probability of passing these important project review milestones. In this way, meaningful gateways would be good for Partnerships UK and they would be good for public sector procurers, he said. Mr Gershon said that OGC would seek to issue best practice to assist Government departments to improve their performance. In turn he called on public sector procurers to re-visit their skill base and demonstrate their ability to successfully manage their own projects. NOTES TO EDITORS 1. HM Treasury announced on 22 July 1999 that the OGC would become the Government’s centre of excellence in procurement. It started work on 1 April 2000. OGC is now an Office of the Treasury. 2. OGC will bring coherence to the purchasing activity of some 200 Government departments, non-departmental bodies and agencies employing some 5000 staff on procurement tasks and spending some £13 billion of taxpayers money every year. OGC will perform an important role in the Government’s modernisation and competitiveness agenda and will ensure best value for this major element of public expenditure. 3. OGC has now taken on the staff of the Central Computer and Telecommunications Agency (CCTA), Property Advisers to the Civil Estate (PACE), the Buying Agency (TBA) together with some procurement staff in HM Treasury and the Cabinet Office. 4. Press calls to Malcolm Graves on 020 7211 1366. Public Enquiries to 020 7270 4558. 5. This news release is available on OGC’s website at www.ogc.gov.uk

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