ProcServe, a PA Group company and a leading provider of procurement and marketplace connectivity solutions, has been appointed by the Welsh Assembly Government to deliver the eProcurement platform for the xChangeWales programme. This programme will result in an all-Wales system that will allow every Welsh public sector organisation to find suppliers and order and pay for goods at the click of a button. See below for recent news coverage.
Wales gets e-payments tool
The Welsh Assembly has launched an electronic sourcing, ordering and payments system which could save £200m
The xchangewales programme will allow every Welsh public sector organisation to find suppliers and order and pay for goods online.
Launched on 17 December 2007 by Andrew Davies, the Welsh Assembly's minister for finance and public service delivery, the project is the first country-wide solution in the UK and has the potential to save up to £200m over five years. This money, said Davies, can then be reinvested into better citizen focused services.
Each year, public sector bodies in Wales spend more than £4.5bn on the procurement of goods, services and capital projects. Benefits of joining the system will include lower prices, increased use of corporate contracts and paperless ordering with reduced administration and improved support for small to medium enterprises (SMEs).
Davies said: "By modernising the procurement and payment process of the Welsh public sector, from schools to local authorities, Wales will be the first place in the UK to deliver an electronic sourcing, ordering and payments system on a country-wide 'shared services' basis.
"Without having to leave their computers, public sector bodies will be able to evaluate tenders, make orders and pay invoices."
The programme will provide suppliers with a single point of access to a variety of public sector buyers. For the buyers, the scheme will deliver an "Amazon type" shopping experience, enabling users to access electronic online catalogues and allowing invoices to be received and paid electronically.
A Welsh Assembly spokesperson told GC News: "We have 22 different local authorities in Wales and there shouldn't be 22 different systems. It's about more joined up government."
Some 17 organisations across the NHS, local government and higher education, have already signed up to the scheme, with others in discussion about joining. The project is expected to go live in spring 2008.
The service will be provided using the Office of Government Commerce's e-toolkit managed service contracts. These will be configured to meet the specific needs of xchangewales, such as the use of the Welsh language.
The Welsh Assembly will fund the overall set-up and maintenance of the xchangewales system, while organisations' individual set-up costs will also be covered. Customers will only need to fund their annual subscriptions, plus any internal change management costs.
