14. Although responsibility for managing contracts rests with the organisations concerned, the Office of Government Commerce plays a role in supporting central government to improve contract management, and during 2007 it carried out reviews to assess the procurement capability of 16 government departments. At the time of our hearing, ten of these Procurement Capability Reviews had been published, with the remaining six due for publication by April 2009. Among the themes emerging from the Reviews has been the need for better risk management and supplier relationship management, and overall there is considerable scope for departments to improve their contract management.[15]

15. Each department has an action plan for responding to its Procurement Capability Review and the Office of Government Commerce will check after three, six and twelve months to assess what progress departments have made. The Office of Government Commerce is satisfied that it has sufficient ability to influence central government effectively. It deals directly with Permanent Secretaries when issues arise, and Permanent Secretaries respond positively to take action where the Office of Government Commerce recommends it.[16]

16. The Office of Government Commerce provides contract management guidance, although this is fairly high level, and the key document was published seven years ago in 2002. Alongside the Comptroller and Auditor General's report, the National Audit Office and the Office of Government Commerce jointly published a good practice framework on contract management, on which the Office of Government Commerce will be building in further guidance to be published in April 2009.[17]

17. The Office of Government Commerce also has a role in making sure that appropriate learning and development is available, working with the National School of Government, the Chartered Institute of Purchasing and Supply and private sector training providers. The provision of specialist contract management training has been identified as a priority area, and the Office of Government Commerce is currently piloting training with the Department for Children, Schools and Families and is drawing on the best practice highlighted in the C&AG's report. Permanent Secretaries had also agreed that in future procurement professionals across government would be required to undertake 50 hours of professional development.[18]

18. The Office of Government Commerce works to improve the management of key suppliers to government through greater collaboration and intelligence sharing. To date, however, this work has not extended in any systematic way beyond suppliers of information and communication technology equipment. For this sector, the Office of Government Commerce has introduced a 'common assessment framework' for the top 15 suppliers, which are assessed every six months against 12 indicators including performance and value for money. The results are disseminated to departmental Chief Information Officers and performance improvement plans are developed for each supplier. The Office of Government Commerce is now expanding the common assessment framework approach to suppliers of IT software, and has also set up six other categories for collaborative procurement, such as energy, food and construction, where it will assess major suppliers to government.[19]

19. We asked the Office of Government Commerce about recent examples of high profile service failure where contractors had not performed, including the delays in the marking of SATS tests and in the payment of Educational Maintenance Allowances. While the appointment of particular suppliers is a matter for individual departments, the Office of Government Commerce is reviewing both these recent cases to identify what lessons can be learned for the future. Key questions for the Educational Maintenance Allowances review would be how the supplier was managed, whether government found out about the problems early enough, and whether it took appropriate action when the problems did become clear.[20]

16   Qq 5-7, 93-94 Back

17   Qq 15-17; C&AG's Report, para 3.5 Back

18   Qq 50-52; C&AG's Report, paras 3.6-3.7 Back

19   Qq 63, 68-69; C&AG's Report, paras 3.10-3.12 Back

20   Qq 79-89 Back