19 September 2010 | Helen
Gilbert
The OGC has published
guidance to help purchasers adapt to the procurement and contracting changes
that form part of the government’s transparency plans.
In May the prime minister
set out a number of commitments relating to public expenditure that are
intended to help achieve better value for money.
Under the plans, all new
central government contracts have to be published in full from January 2011 and
all new central government tender documents for contracts over £10,000 have to
be published on a single website from September 2010. In July, it became
mandatory for departments to publish online all new central government ICT
contracts.
Buyers can now access
two documents: Guidance on Publishing ICT contracts and Guidance on PublishingTender Documents to help them with the changes. The OGC is also working on
putting together advice for departments on the requirement to publish all new
central government contracts from January 2011 but could not confirm when this
would be available.
The plans, overseen by the
Public Sector Transparency Board, aim to achieve greater transparency across
the government so that public bodies and politicians can be held to account.
