Published: 31 October 2005
NHS e-Auction Saves Costs
A group of NHS trusts have achieved potential savings of nearly 30% on this year's bill for IT Hardware via an on-line auction.
In conjunction with Collaborative Procurement organisations, a two-hour e-auction, organised by the OGC’s Co-ordinated Procurement Division and run by TradingPartners saw 11 IT hardware suppliers battle to get the business of 137 NHS Trusts, grouped into six regional consortia.
The consortia taking part in the event were:
Greater Manchester Collaborative Procurement Hub
Procurement North East NHS Procurement Confederation
Lifesource Collaborative Procurement Hub (Staffordshire and Shropshire)
Healthcare Purchasing Consortium (West Midlands)
North Central London NHS Procurement Confederation
South West Peninsula Local Health Communities
Between them, these consortia account for nearly a third of all the desktops and laptops needed by the NHS over the next 18 months.
The event was led and hosted by Hull and East Yorkshire NHS Trust which originated the idea, and co-ordinated by its Procurement Manager Malcolm Tell.
John Oughton, Chief Executive of the Office of Government Commerce, who viewed the auction, said: "This a great example of how the public sector can work together to achieve savings for the taxpayer that can be ploughed back into frontline services.
OGC promotes the use of eAuctions in the public sector and we can provide guidance on how they can be used to help the public sector meet their efficiency targets."
Stephen Greep, Chief Executive of Hull and East Yorkshire NHS Trust, and Chairman of the Strategic Procurement and Supply Board for the local SHA commented:
"I am delighted that this initiative has the potential to deliver significant financial benefits.
In turn, these will deliver innovative solutions for the benefit of patients and frontline services in the NHS.
We want to build stronger partnerships with our suppliers through commitment to contracts like these, providing a focused route into the health economy."
Projected savings worth nearly 30%, over £4.5m, should reduce the bill for PC equipment from £16m to £11.5m.
Details of the contracts will be finalised shortly, but the total package includes over 21,000 desktop PCs and nearly 4,500 laptops.
The suppliers remained anonymous throughout the process to ensure fair competition.
The 11 suppliers who participated in the eAuction were all selected from the OGCbuying.solutions Framework Agreement. 25 suppliers had been invited to submit specification proposals. Using the Framework means that the opportunity did not have to be advertised in OJEU as the Framework already meets EU Procurement Directive regulations.
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