Scottish Government
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Benefits of e-procurement recognised
Almost £2.5 billion of public sector business is now conducted online, according to new figures, speeding up the business of doing business and saving public money.
eProcurement Scotland (ePS) handled nearly £2.5 billion worth of transactions last year, a rise of 45 per cent on 2007. Public sector procurement in Scotland is worth around £8 billion a year.
eProcurement Scotland is a fully managed service for the public sector to buy goods and services online.
Finance Secretary John Swinney said:
"eProcurement Scotland is one of the most comprehensive and successful eGovernment initiatives in the world. Over 100 public bodies have implemented ePS and most recently the Scottish Parliament joined the service. I want see even more organisations get the benefits of buying goods and services through ePS.
"ePS Scotland provides an effective and efficient way of improving procurement while saving taxpayers money, all the more crucial as we face increasing spending pressures. It also saves businesses time by speeding up order to delivery times and is a more sustainable way of doing business.
"Public organisations not already using e-procurement need to address this as soon as possible to help Scotland beat the recession."
There are over 100 public bodies currently using ePS and 70,000 suppliers are registered. The total value of transactions on ePS in 2008 was £2.47 billion compared to £1.7 billion in 2007.
Set up in 2002, ePS is a fully hosted and managed eProcurement service for the Scottish public sector, including central government, local government, further and higher education and the NHS. It provides a range of services including e-sourcing (electronic tendering and auctions) and transactional purchase to pay solutions. There are no general joining or service management charges for suppliers nor any transaction fees.
The Scottish Government's free advertising portal Public Contracts Scotland is a single source to give suppliers essential information on public sector business opportunities, worth around £8 billion a year in Scotland. See: http://www.publiccontractsscotland.gov.uk
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