14 July 2006 | Paul Snell

The public sector saved £80.7 million and 28.8 million sheets of paper last year through increased use of the Government Procurement Card (GPC), according to a sponsored study.

The GPC Annual Report 2005, produced by OGCbuying.solutions and Visa, found the savings made when using the GPC increased by £15.9 million last year from £64.8 million in 2004. The amount of paper saved rose by 5.8 million sheets from 23 million. This is based on saving 10 sheets of A4 per transaction.

Savings are created when using the card by replacing traditional paper-based purchase order and invoice systems, improving the ability to pay suppliers more quickly, but keeping a transparent process to track procurement.

In a statement, John Oughton, chief executive of the Office of Government Commerce, said: "GPC Visa is no longer perceived as a tool for purchasing simple commodities and is being used to do more advanced procurement. This is resulting in increased efficiency in financial departments and better contract compliance."

Nearly 25 per cent of spend on the card across the public sector is on travel, but the report says it expects to see an significant rise in card spend on building supplies and office equipment in the next few years.

The report is available at www.purchasingcard.info/downloads/2005_GPC_Annual_Report.pdf

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