With the UK Public Sector set to spend £220bn a year on procurement spend - equivalent to one third of all Government expenditure- the IOD argues that with each local authority and NHS Trust 'doing their own thing' there is massive duplication of effort.

Similar products and services could be sourced centrally at considerably less expense. Overall the IoD says that at least £15bn could be saved in the procurement process and and £10bn in the outsourcing process.

Leading public procurement specialist,Colin Cram comments:"There has been much improvement in procurement under the leadership of the Office of Government Commerce. However, public sector procurement remains a legacy of its past and a prisoner of its structures.

"A step change is long overdue in the way public sector procurement is organised and managed. Its complexity does not excuse looking to the best private sector models, for example, companies like Tesco."

Story provided by Business Financial Newswire