20 July 2006 | Paul Snell

Royal Mail Group last week issued a tender notice for consultancy services to overhaul its £1.8 billion annual procurement spend.

The Procurement Transformation Project will run for three years from the award of the deal.

The notice said the aim is to "help develop procurement at the Royal Mail Group into a world-class organisation".

The project will also introduce best practice strategic sourcing methods and supplier relationship management tools to integrate with existing SAP systems.

It will affect all 100 procurement staff working at its six sites in London, Swindon, Chester, Milton Keynes, Chesterfield and Langley.

The tender notice was placed in the OJEU this month. Bids must be submitted by 15 August.

A maximum of 10 bidders will then be invited to tender for the project by the end of September.

Changes were expected at Royal Mail Group, which includes the Post Office, Parcelforce and Royal Mail, following the appointment of director of procurement Ninian Wilson at the end of April.

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