This Memorandum responds to the Sub-Committee's requests at the hearing on 10 October.

OGC'S REPORTING MECHANISM

  At the start of the hearing the Chairman asked a number of questions about OGC's reporting mechanism [Qq 94-96].

  OGC currently consolidates financial information in the HMT Departmental Report and has done so for the past five years.

  Over this period, it has published a number of reports on its overall performance:

—  "Corporate Brochure 2002-03"

—  "Delivering Your Agenda 2003-04"

—  "2005 and 2006 OGC: Key achievements, releasing resources to the front line"

—  "Transforming Government Procurement—First one hundred days" (July 2007)

  To clarify, the report that was sent to the Committee prior to our hearing and to which William Jordan referred in his evidence to the Committee, 2005 and 2006 OGC: Key Achievements, releasing resources to the front line, was published in December 2006 and covered the calendar years 2005-06.

  For the future, we intend to produce a report on OGC's performance on an annual basis. We will ensure that Committee members receive copies of these annual reports for their information.

SPECIALIST SOLUTIONS FRAMEWORK

  Mr Dunne referred to evidence received by the Committee from a supplier that "framework agreements are used improperly to distort competition". He referred specifically to the Specialist Solutions framework that had been extended until 2016, and the allegation being that all competition in this product range would be restricted until this date [Q 135].

  This framework was established to run for a period of four years, terminating in 2009. Orders using the framework terms are permissible within the tenure of the framework, including orders that then run beyond the effective dates of the framework. The agreed change notification removed the restriction period of five years, for which the ordered service could be provided under the contract between the service provider and the customer, after the expiry of the framework. This enabled a consistent contract term of up to seven years at any point within the framework term, rather than the original, maximum of five years beyond the expiry date of the framework. There was no extension to the actual effective dates of the framework agreement. The expiry date remains the 1 October 2009.

October 2007