20 October 2006 | Rebecca Ellinor
Five professional buying organisations have agreed to work together to secure better deals for councils.
Five professional buying organisations have agreed to work together to secure better deals for councils.
The organisations, whose combined purchasing power is £2 billion, are Eastern Shires Purchasing Organisation, Yorkshire Purchasing Organisation, Central Buying Consortium, West Mercia Supplies and the North East Purchasing Organisation.
Working as the "Pro5", they will identify and promote the best deals for local authorities, including those offered by other professional buying organisations.
The group has already identified a number of markets where quick win cashable savings can be made. They will combine their expertise and market position to help local authorities shift spend on to new contracts in the following markets:
- Telephony
- Postal services
- Self-drive vehicle hire
- Micro-technologies to support environmental sustainability
- Energy
A Pro5 spokesperson said: "Local authorities are facing increasingly demanding efficiency and improvement agendas. By working together and with other buying organisations, the members of Pro5 can provide a far more effective service than if they worked separately."
Steve Holland, director of the Regional Centres of Excellence national procurement programme, described it as a bold step and added it was "exactly the kind of innovative partnership local government has been looking forward to."
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