Commercial

Labour rounds on Home Office over investigation into Serco-run detention centre

Officials tell MPs the MoD has "locked in" £2.3bn of planned £4.1bn savings from support budget

New figures from the Cabinet Office show SMEs have benefited from £11.4bn of government contracts 

The civil service’s first chief executive has an ambitious agenda to define the next era of Whitehall reform – whatever those “damn politicians” might be planning. Jess Bowie meets him

Government should focus on working with mutuals and cooperatives rather than outsourcing to private firms, says Jon Cruddas

The government is to undertake further consultation on proposed new laws aimed at requiring public sector bodies to accept electronic invoices, after a consultation raised fears over costs

Executive agency responsible for the “land arm” of the Ministry of Defence (MoD) has been sold for £140m, it was announced today

The Institute for Government (IfG) agrees with Margaret Hodge’s statement that open book accounting is essential for tackling issues in the government’s contract management, as outlined in a recent NAO report.

The civil service has allowed large companies to become “quasi-monopoly suppliers” with too much contractual advantage, say the NAO today.

The Home Office has re-appointed Serco to operate, maintain and manage Yarl’s Wood IRC, despite an ongoing investigation with the Serious Fraud Office.

Despite a public commitment to open contracting, the UK government has not signed up to a new open contracting data standard that was launched globally today. 

Outsourcing group Serco is selling off the majority of its private sector business process outsourcing (BPO) companies to raise funds and focus on supplying for governments, according to a stock exchange announcement by the firm earlier this week.

The civil service must foster “a more vibrant, competitive marketplace” of government contractors and rebuild its skills in contract management, the government’s outgoing chief operating officer Stephen Kelly has told CSW.

Civil servants working in the Ministry of Justice’s (MoJ’s) shared services centres face redundancies and office closures following a seven-year contract to outsource services to Shared Services Connected Limited (SSCL), says Public and Commercial Services Union (PCS). 

The Ministry of Defence (MoD) has announced the three private sector companies who have been offered contracts to deliver its £164bn equipment plan. 

John Manzoni, the chief executive of the Major Projects Authority, has been named as the new chief executive of the civil service.

The government is considering extending the Social Value Act to include goods, works, infrastructure and public assets, under a Cabinet Office review.

Senior civil servants often “don’t know what’s going on” with contracts held by their departments and thus spot problems too late, Joshua Reddaway, the National Audit Office’s director for commercial and contracting, has warned.

Members of the public will be able to search the government property portfolio from today, using a new tool that maps all government-held land and buildings.

Speaking to the Financial Times, head of the Major Projects Authority (MPA), John Manzoni, made it clear that the MPA would be taking a careful look at the Ministry of Justice’s probation outsourcing programme.

The government’s chief operating officer Stephen Kelly has today announced he will leave the civil service in November to become the chief executive of business software firm Sage Group.

HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) “should urgently invest in its operational, technical and commercial skills,” a report by the National Audit Office has found.

The government will commit to buying British food from 2017 under new guidelines encouraging the whole public sector — including schools and hospitals — to do the same, it has been announced today.

Government spending on outsourcing contracts rose by 23% to £1.2bn between 2012 and 2013, bringing the two-year total to £2.3bn, while expenditure in most other sectors fell by between 1% and 20%, according to analysis of public sector transactions carried out by the Institute for Government (IfG).