Whitehall signs public sector portal contract

Zanzibar system will improve efficiency and help smaller suppliers

THE government has signed a multimillion-pound deal for an online marketplace to improve purchasing efficiency and make bidding for public sector contracts more appealing to smaller suppliers.

The Zanzibar ‘purchase to pay’ site – named after the world’s oldest market – will be developed and maintained by PA Managed Services. A data warehouse and electronic hub will allow potential suppliers to search available contracts, bid, submit invoices, and receive payment.

The scheme has been established by OGCbuying.solutions, the commercial arm of Whitehall buying agency the Office of Government Commerce (OGC).

Public sector contracting is lengthy and expensive for both government and suppliers, because of the requirements of European procurement rules.

By streamlining the process, Zanzibar aims to help plans to open the marketplace to a wider range of suppliers traditionally excluded by the high cost of bidding for government deals.

It will also help meet the government’s efficiency targets by boosting take-up of lower-cost eprocurement practices.

‘Zanzibar will make an important contribution to realising the government’s efficiency and eprocurement targets,’ said OGC chief executive John Oughton.

‘The benefits of joining emarketplaces have been proven within the public sector – they make it easier for suppliers to do business with government and will allow us to have a real understanding of total demand in the public sector.’

Hugh Barrett, chief executive of OGCbuying.solutions, said: ‘Zanzibar will revolutionise the way the public sector does business. It should save time and cost for the public sector and suppliers alike.’

The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) will be one of the first to take up the scheme.

‘This initiative will be a key enabler to DWP’s commercial modernisation,’ said commercial director David Smith.