£200m of savings for Welsh public sector

17 Dec 2007

Andrew Davies, Minister for Finance & Public Service Delivery, today, (17 December 2007) gave the go-ahead to a ground breaking project that will make the public sector in Wales the first place in the UK to have the opportunity to buy all of its goods and services online, resulting in up to £200 million in savings.

The xchangewales programme will provide an all-Wales system that will allow every Welsh public sector organisation to find suppliers and order and pay for goods at a click of a button. The benefits will be lower prices, increased use of corporate contracts and paperless ordering with reduced administration. Other benefits include improved support for small to medium enterprises (SMEs).

Andrew Davies said:

This programme shows Wales at its finest, using cutting edge technology to deliver the best value possible for the Welsh pound, creating public services we can be proud of.

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

Crucially, this system has the potential to deliver an incredible £200 million of savings over five years. This money can be reinvested back into better citizen focused services.

Each year, public sector bodies in Wales spend more than £4.5 billion on the procurement of goods, services and capital projects. Latest figures show that the value of public sector contracts won by Welsh-based companies has risen dramatically from 35 percent to 49 percent in only two years. A single internet transaction hub will help remove barriers to public sector procurement faced by some businesses and in particular SMEs.

xchangewales has already received widespread support from public sector bodies across Wales. Seventeen organisations embracing the NHS, Local Government and Higher Education, have already put themselves forward as "Pathfinders" for the programme, with others in discussion about joining. It is anticipated that the project will go "live" in spring 2008.