06 July 2006

Procurement must be as "ruthless at driving down demand as it is at driving out inefficiencies", according to the head of the Office of Government Commerce (OGC).

John Oughton, chief executive, said: "Some of the biggest savings can be made on demand management. We need to buy more efficiently and stop buying things we don't absolutely need."

Oughton added that buyers needed support and skills to have the confidence to do things differently.

He said: "We need to move from following rules faithfully to exercising more judgment. So we're giving ourselves more choices and flexibility - that's what the professional skills agenda is all about.

"It's not just about tough eyeball-to-eyeball negotiations to squeeze out the best deal, but about how we use the current procurement framework in the best fashion."

He said since the OGC provides leadership to the profession, it must recognise that people don't always get it right first time and be tolerant and supportive of that.

SMjul2006