UK government expects single web site to speed up public sector purchasing

Internet Business News, July 20, 2004

INTERNET BUSINESS NEWS-(C)1995-2004 M2 COMMUNICATIONS LTD

A newly launched web site aims to make it easier for the public sector in the United Kingdom to purchase pre-approved, pre-tendered products.

The new site reportedly means a streamlining of OGCbuying.solutions into a single portal, allowing government and public sector customers to register once to access all the catalogues available. The catalogues, which include S-Cat and GCat, offer a selection of pre-tendered products and services, from IT and telecommunications to furniture.

OGCbuying.solutions is the trading arm of the Office of Government Commerce (OGC), which is part of HM Treasury.

The new web site (http://www.ogcbuyingsolutions.gov.uk) also includes a new feature that allows customers to view and compare product prices online from 600 different suppliers and a search function to reduce the time needed to find the desired product.

The software for the portal was developed by TechnoPhobia, an Internet development agency specialising in e-business solutions and consultancy.

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