The Office of Government Commerce‘s (OGC) latest electronic auction for IT hardware for the public sector netted a 50 per cent saving - the biggest so far attributed to combined buying power.

Fourteen councils and six NHS Trusts joined together in the OGC’s seventh e-auction and saved nearly £7m after auctioning IT hardware requirements worth £13.7m at pre-auctioned benchmarked prices.

A price of £6.9m was achieved - an average saving of 50 per cent across the six lots at the end of the five hour auction run in conjunction with the London Centre of Excellence (LCE).

Some 325 central government and wider public sector organisations have participated in OGC e-auctions, saving a total of £21m since the first one in September 2005.

Rob Leak, chief executive of the London Borough of Enfield, a participating council, said: ‘We are delighted with the results achieved through this e-auction as it gives us a tangible cashable saving and proves that collaborative working delivers results.’

Leak says he would like the collaborative approach to apply to other high value commodities and services.

‘I am sure there are even more savings to be exploited across London by working together and influencing markets,’ he said.

Chris Chettle, OGC e-auction manager, said: ‘The e-auction has delivered an extremely competitive deal, demonstrating the huge benefits that can be obtained by working collaboratively to engage with suppliers.’

‘These councils and NHS Trusts have together achieved far greater price reductions than anything they would have obtained by each negotiating with the suppliers on an individual basis,’ he added.

The LCE provided senior sponsorship and project management resources, while the OGC assisted with technical and project management support.