Download or read book Assessing the value for money of OGCbuying solutions written by Great Britain: National Audit Office and published by The Stationery Office. This book was released on 2006-12-14 with total page 54 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: OGCbuying.solutions is an executive agency of the Office of Government Commerce and a trading fund. It was established in April 2001 to maximise the value for money obtained by government departments and other public bodies through the procurement and supply of goods and services. Its operations focus on three areas: framework agreements, managed services and memoranda of undertaking. The agency reported value for money savings of £412 million in 2005-06, an increase of 71 per cent since 2003-04. Whilst these savings are judged to be significant, this NAO report identifies considerable potential to achieve further value for money savings and makes six recommendations to help OGCbuying.solutions further improve its performance. The NAO report estimates that these changes, combined with a more co-ordinated public sector procurement landscape, could achieve a potential £520 million to £660 million in further savings.
Download or read book Assessing the value for money of OGCbuying solutions written by Great Britain: Parliament: House of Commons: Committee of Public Accounts and published by The Stationery Office. This book was released on 2007-06-26 with total page 40 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: OGCbuying.solutions is an executive agency of the Office of Government Commerce and a trading fund. It was established in April 2001 to maximise the value for money obtained by government departments and other public bodies through the procurement and supply of goods and services. Its operations focus on three areas: framework agreements, managed services and memoranda of undertaking. The agency reported value for money savings of £412 million in 2005-06, an increase of 71 per cent since 2003-04. Following on from a NAO report (HCP 103, session 2006-07 (ISBN 9780102944037) published in December 2006, the Committee's report focuses on three main issues: creating a 'fit for purpose' organisation; increasing market share through smarter engagement with customers; and the role of OGCbuying.solutions in transforming government procurement.
Download or read book Treasury minutes on the twenty seventh to the thirty fourth the thirty sixth to the fortieth and the forty third to the forty fifth reports from the Committee of Public Accounts 2006 2007 written by Great Britain. Treasury and published by The Stationery Office. This book was released on 2007-10-11 with total page 120 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Committee of Public Accounts treasury minutes are on the following reports: HCP 113, 06/07, 27th report (ISBN 9780215034311); HCP 179, 06/07, 28th report (ISBN 9780215034373); HCP 142, 06/07, 29th report (ISBN 9780215034304); HCP 189, 06/07, 30th report (ISBN 9780215034489); HCP 309, 06/07, 31st report (ISBN 9780215034496); HCP 91, 06/07, 32nd report (ISBN 9780215034571); HCP 275, 06/07 33rd report (ISBN 9780215034786); HCP 43, 06/07, 34th report (ISBN 9780215034830); HCP 729, 06/07, 36th report (ISBN 9780215034823); HCP 812, 06/07, 37th report (ISBN 9780215034878); HCP 261, 06/07, 38th report (ISBN 9780215034991); HCP 377, 06/07, 39th report (ISBN 9780215034922); HCP 368, 06/07, 40th report (ISBN 9780215035066); HCP 892, 06/07, 43rd report (ISBN 9780215035172); HCP 246, 06/07, 44th report (ISBN 9780215035271); HCP 250, 06/07, 45th report (ISBN 9780215035387)
Download or read book Administration and expenditure of the Chancellor s departments 2006 07 written by Great Britain: Parliament: House of Commons: Treasury Committee and published by The Stationery Office. This book was released on 2008-03-07 with total page 176 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This is the first annual scrutiny by the Treasury Committee of the Chancellor of Exchequer's Departments. The Committee sets out a number of conclusions and recommendations, including: that the Treasury should include within its' annual reports a summary of the results of the annual surveys of stakeholder opinion and the Treasury's response to stakeholders; the Committee recommends that the Treasury set itself a target to ensure that the Public Service Agreements finalised as part of the next Spending Review in 2009 or 2010 include a clear statement about the resources to be allocated across Government to the delivery of each Agreement; the Committee criticises the Treasury's failure to meet its objective for the appointment of professionally-qualified Finance Directors in all Departments by December 2006 and that a relevant accountancy qualification be described as an essental criterion in all future post advertisements; the Committee views the Value for Money Delivery Agreements across Government as disappointing, and wants the Government to develop programmes that measure quality of service and efficiency effectively; the Committee commends the Royal Mint's return to profitability but is concerned about the ambitious target set for next year; that the Office of Government Commerce has failed to publish a regular annual report; the Committee expresses surprise that HM Revenue and Customs had approved a 60% increase in senior civil service bonus payments over a period of poor performance and headcount reductions, also the Committee highlights the problems experienced in VAT registrations and the failure of HMRC to meet its processing target of VAT receipts as well as poor administration of tax credits.
Download or read book The Efficiency and Reform Group s role in improving public sector value for money written by Great Britain: National Audit Office and published by The Stationery Office. This book was released on 2011-03-25 with total page 40 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In May 2010, the Government announced the formation of the Efficiency and Reform Group within the Cabinet Office. The Group brings many of the functions of a typical corporate headquarters together in one place in the centre of government. Its priorities are improving efficiency in central government, and wider reform of the way public services are provided, in order to make the spending reductions required by the 2010 Spending Review. The Group is responsible for various new initiatives which are designed to increase efficiency, make savings and improve value for money. These include renegotiating contracts with major suppliers; implementation of a centralised procurement process; a review of major government projects; and a new Property Unit. The NAO's review details various challenges that the Group faces. It is too soon for the NAO to reach a judgment on its success in improving the value for money of government overall. The review is intended to provide an objective baseline against which progress made by the Group can be assessed by the NAO and the Public Accounts Committee.
Download or read book BBC Procurement written by Great Britain: Parliament: House of Commons: Committee of Public Accounts and published by The Stationery Office. This book was released on 2008 with total page 48 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The BBC spends over £500 million each year on goods and services ranging from broadcast specific products to more generic items. It has a centralised procurement function and manages spending along category, enabling it to control its spending more effectively than in the past. The BBC was aiming to deliver £75 million savings from procurement in the three years to April 2008, and is on course to achieve those. But savings have varied widely between categories and it has achieved least from those where it has spent most, Production Resources and Technology and Broadcast Equipment. In recent years the BBC has used fewer suppliers and has established central contracts for a greater proportion of its goods and services, but in 2006-07 it still used over 17,000 suppliers. That year the BBC spent more than £200 million through local deals and made nearly 38,000 individual purchases from suppliers with which it had no central contract. During 2006-07 the BBC introduced an upgraded electronic purchasing system, but 2,000 of the 4,500 licences it had paid for to give staff access to the system were not being used. The average cost of processing a purchase using the system is £6, although the cost is more than six times greater when buyers do not use a central contract. The BBC uses technology across all of its procurement activities, including letting tenders through eAuctions. The BBC has made estimated annual savings of £3 million (14 per cent) from the 19 eAuctions it ran between April 2005 and March 2007, but since then had let only five more contracts in this way.
Download or read book Legal Services Commission written by Great Britain: Parliament: House of Commons: Committee of Public Accounts and published by The Stationery Office. This book was released on 2007-10-16 with total page 48 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Family disputes that are resolved through mediation are cheaper, quicker and, according to academic research, less acrimonious than those that are settled through the courts. Despite these advantages, only some 20 per cent of people who are funded by legal aid for family breakdown cases (excluding those involving domestic violence) currently opt for mediation. Following on from a NAO report on this topic (HCP 256, session 2006-07; ISBN 9780102944525), the Committee's report examines the shortcomings of the current system for referring clients to mediation, and the actions the Legal Services Commission has in train to increase referrals to and take-up of mediation services, to improve the quality of mediation offered, and to strengthen the Commission's oversight of solicitors and mediation providers.
Download or read book The Impact of Government s ICT Savings Initiatives written by Great Britain: National Audit Office and published by The Stationery Office. This book was released on 2013-01-23 with total page 56 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: According to the National Audit Office, in 2011-12, government spent an estimated £316 million less on ICT than it would otherwise have done. The main challenge, however, will be to move to the delivery of ICT solutions that reform public services and the way that government works. The government announced in October 2012 that, subject to audit, it had already saved £410 million from its savings initiatives in 2012-13 and expected to save a further £200 million by the end of March 2013. The appointment of commercial experts has helped departments to claw money back, renegotiate contracts before they expire and, overall, spend less on ICT than they otherwise would have done. However, weaknesses in data held by the Cabinet Office have meant that the £348 million of savings reported by the Cabinet Office for 2011-12, resulting from its initiative to manage ICT suppliers as a single customer, could not be validated. To date, moreover, the Cabinet Office has measured only cost savings and has not published measures of the wider impacts of its initiatives. The department is starting to take steps to consider risk and performance on a more holistic basis, which should provide it with more information on wider impact. Views are mixed on the effect of reform on government's relationship with ICT suppliers. Suppliers consulted by the NAO were frustrated at the slow pace of change and the focus on cost-cutting, rather than exploring innovative opportunities to redesign public service and put services online. There have also been comments from government on resistance by suppliers to change
Download or read book Management Consultancy written by Joe O'Mahoney and published by Oxford University Press, USA. This book was released on 2010-02-11 with total page 436 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "Providing a balance between critical analysis and practical skills, Management Consultancy provides insights into industry trends, client engagements and consultancy careers, to ensure you have all the information and guidance you require to become a successful management consultant." --Book Jacket.
Download or read book OECD Public Governance Reviews Public Procurement in Germany Strategic Dimensions for Well being and Growth written by OECD and published by OECD Publishing. This book was released on 2019-08-26 with total page 254 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: As the largest economy in Europe, Germany has a massive public procurement market, accounting for around 15% of GDP (EUR 500 billion) per year and affecting many areas of the economy and society.
Download or read book Recruitment and retention in the armed forces written by Great Britain: Parliament: House of Commons: Committee of Public Accounts and published by The Stationery Office. This book was released on 2007-07-03 with total page 44 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The armed forces are short of servicemen and women. At April 2007, the overall shortfall was 5,850 personnel, or 3.2 per cent and none of the three Services were within their targets, known as 'manning balance'. Many highly specialised areas, such as nurses and linguists, have larger shortfalls. The impact of continuous downsizing, pressures and overstretch is affecting the ability of the Ministry of Defence (MoD) to retain and provide a satisfactory life for Armed Forces personnel. Numbers leaving early have risen in the last two years, and are now at a ten-year peak for Army and Royal Air Force Officers and for Royal Air Force Other Ranks. The frequency of deployments is creating pressure on some personnel, with large numbers exceeding the "harmony" guidelines on time spent away from home. The MoD has operated above the most demanding level of operations under Defence Planning Assumptions since 2001, but has not adjusted its manning requirements. Short term financial measures to improve retention have had some success, but do not address the key drivers for leaving such as servicemen and women's inability to plan ahead and the impact on their family life. The MoD also lacks basic information on the costs of its measures which would enable it to make more informed judgements on incentives to improve recruitment and retention. Past cuts in recruitment activity have had a damaging longer-term effect on manning in some areas. Such cutbacks are almost impossible to recover as budget and capacity constraints prevent the MoD from over-recruiting to make up for shortfalls in previous years.
Download or read book Estimating and monitoring the costs of building roads in England written by Great Britain: Parliament: House of Commons: Committee of Public Accounts and published by The Stationery Office. This book was released on 2007-11-08 with total page 52 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Department for Transport has approved expenditure of over £11 billion between 1998 and 2021 for the development of new and existing trunk roads and motorways by the Highways Agency, and just under £1.7 billion on major road schemes proposed and developed by local authorities in five year Local Transport Plans. Following on from a NAO report on this topic (HCP 321, session 2006-07; ISBN 9780102944600) published in March 2007, the Committee's report examines the steps taken by the Department for Transport and the Highways Agency to improve value for money and oversight of the roads programme and contracting methods and project management capability. By September 2006, the Agency's 36 completed schemes in the Targeted Programme of Improvement cost 40 per cent more than estimated initially, and for schemes still to be completed, latest forecasts indicate that final costs could be 27 per cent more than original estimates. The main causes for costs exceeding estimates are increases in construction costs, higher than forecast land prices and compensation to landowners, inflation and changes in the scope of the project. The report finds that the DfT has not been rigorous enough in its oversight of the Agency's delivery of major road schemes, allowing it too much latitude on delivery and cost plans, and has failed to monitor in-year expenditure against progress and delivery milestones. The Agency is overly reliant on consultants for project management expertise and needs to develop its in-house capability.
Download or read book Central government s use of consultants written by Great Britain: National Audit Office and published by The Stationery Office. This book was released on 2006-12-15 with total page 52 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This NAO report sets out two definitions of consultancy: (i) where individuals and companies are engaged to work on specific projects that are outside the client's business as usual; (ii) where responsibility for the final outcome of the project largely rests with the client. Central government spent £1.8 billion on consulting in 2005-06. This report sets out a number of recommendations on the use of consultancy, including: that public bodies need to be much better at identifying where core skill gaps exist; that consultants should only be employed after an assessment of in-house skills; all public bodies should adhere to OGC (Office of Government Commerce) guidance on consultancy contracts; public bodies should explore the market for the range of approaches and contracting methods available and make more use of different payment mechanisms; public bodies also need to be smarter when it comes to understanding how consulting firms operate and provide sufficient incentive to staff to make any consultancy project a success.
Download or read book Preparations for the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games written by Great Britain: Parliament: House of Commons: Committee of Public Accounts and published by The Stationery Office. This book was released on 2007-07-10 with total page 56 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Following on from the NAO report (HCP 252, session 2006-07; ISBN 9780102944273) published in February 2007, the Committee has examined the progress that has been made in preparing for the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games and the areas of risk that will need to be managed. The report highlights seven main areas of risk including: i) the governance and delivery structures needed to co-ordinate the multiplicity of organisations and groups involved in the Games; ii) given the immovable deadline of the Games, any slippage in the delivery programme risks rising costs or a reduction in quality; iii) as the ultimate guarantor of funding for the Games, the Government needs to ensure the budget for the Games is clearly determined and effectively managed, given that the costs of the Games were seriously underestimated at the time of the bid; iv) the need for clarity in planning to ensure a lasting legacy for venues after the Games are over; and v) planning to minimise the impact of funding the Games on other National Lottery good causes.
Download or read book Managing the defence estate written by Great Britain: Parliament: House of Commons: Committee of Public Accounts and published by The Stationery Office. This book was released on 2007-11-29 with total page 40 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Ministry of Defence (MoD) has an extensive and complex estate of some 24,000 hectares, and after the Forestry Commission, is the second largest landowner in the UK. The estate is valued at over £18 billion and costs some £3.3 billion to operate. The estate is seen as essential to the delivery of military capability and the welfare and morale of Service personnel. This report, from the Committee of Public Accounts, has taken evidence from the MoD on the standard of living accommodation, the Department's ability to prioritise estate projects effectively, and its response to staff shortages. It follows on from an NAO report (HCP 154, session 2006-7), Managing the Defence Estate: Quality and Sustainability (ISBN 9780102944679). It sets out 9 recommendations, including: more than half of single living accommodation and over 40% of family accommodation does not meet the Department's definition of high-quality accommodation and is therefore substandard; that poor accommodation has a negative impact on retention rates; there is no information on when poor accommodation is to be upgraded, with some military personnel and their families having to continue to live in substandard housing for the next 20 years; there are gaps in the Department's understanding of estate costs; the Department employs only 56% of safety works staff and 57% of quantity surveyors that it needs; that implementing energy saving measures at its' defence sites would bring environmental benefits and savings of more than £2 million annually.
Download or read book Big science written by Great Britain: Parliament: House of Commons: Committee of Public Accounts and published by The Stationery Office. This book was released on 2007-11-13 with total page 44 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Government invests in a range of large scientific facilities to support and develop the nation's science base, with over £860 million allocated since 2000 to construct 10 new large scientific projects. These programmes include: a Diamond Synchrotron (costing £383 million) to produce intense X-rays and shorter wavelength emissions for examining structures at molecular and atomic level; a new research ship, RRS James Cook, to conduct oceanographic and marine studies (a budget of £40 million); and a new Antarctic research station (with a budget of £34.7 million) for monitoring climate, ozone and space weather. Following on from a NAO report on this topic (HCP 153, session 2006-07, ISBN 9780102944198) published in January 2007, the Committee's report examines how large scientific facilities are delivered and the how their value is assessed. Findings include that the first two projects have been delivered largely to time and budget, but other projects still at an early stage are forecasting slippage, with five of the six most mature projects forecasting significant increases in the initial estimates for operating costs. Research Councils have not always sufficiently evaluated options for locating new scientific facilities and have had difficulty in attracting a sufficient number of bidders for contracts to help build new facilities. Performance indicators used by the Research Councils and project teams for monitoring the success of these facilities are not always sufficiently comprehensive or measurable, and if the UK is to maximise the value of these facilities, it needs to attract more young people into science to make good use of the research capacity now being built.
Download or read book Assets Recovery Agency written by Great Britain: Parliament: House of Commons: Committee of Public Accounts and published by The Stationery Office. This book was released on 2007-10-12 with total page 60 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Assets Recovery Agency (the Agency) was set up in 2003 to recover assets from criminals using new and unique powers of civil recovery as well as criminal confiscation and taxation. It was also tasked with the training, accreditation and monitoring of financial investigators. The Agency is to be disbanded in 2008. It was set up with insufficient preparatory work. There was no business case setting out the expectations for the Agency, resulting in unachievable delivery aims. It is reliant on cases being referred to it by other authorities, but only 707 cases have been referred from 129 out of 696 potential referral partners. The Agency did not develop effective work processes: it failed to keep a comprehensive database of cases referred to it; it did not invest in a time-recording system to manage and monitor staff time and the cost of cases; and it failed to put in place processes to enable management to monitor the progression of cases effectively. Receivers' fees accounted for almost a quarter of the budget but fixed price contracts were not introduced until April 2006. The Agency's office is in central London, heavily reliant on temporary staff, and with high levels of staff turnover. The Agency had recovered assets amounting to only £23 million by December 2006 against expenditure of £65 million, and it has not met its target of becoming self-financing by 2005-06. Asset recovery has been slow because in most cases the full value of the assets was pursued through the courts rather than seeking settlement for a proportion of the assets. The Agency has not been adequately monitoring the accreditation of trained financial investigators. Of the 4,500 financial investigators trained at almost £700 per place, only 1,400 of those were active in the role by summer 2006.
