OGC streamlines purchasing portals

The Office of Government Commerce (OGC) today launched a single online purchasing portal it says will make purchasing simpler for public sector organisations.

OGCbuying.solutions had operated several buying sites where public sector organisations could buy pre-tendered and pre-approved products, but elected to streamline its operations.

In a statement, Hugh Barrett, Chief Executive, OGCbuying.solutions said: "We recognised that a 'single sign up' route would make life a lot easier for public sector buyers and hope that this will make it easier for them to buy from a number of our catalogues."

Having one central portal site means buyers need only register once to gain access to many product lines, ranging from IT and telecommunications to furniture and furnishings. In total, customers of the OGC now have access to over 600 different suppliers from one place.

OGCbuying.solutions is the trading arm of the OGC, which itself is part of the Treasury. Its remit is to squeeze as much as possible out of the government's procurement budget. ®

Related stories

Blunkett appoints development partner for ID card project
Gershon retires from the Office of Government Commerce
MPs call for Gov.uk to switch to open source (maybe)