News - Syndicated Procurement on track
Syndicated Procurement on track
29 June 2004
The growth in syndicated procurement deals across the public sector over the last 12 months has seen significant savings for the participating agencies, surpassing the first-year target savings set by the Syndicated Procurement Unit (SP.u) in their business plan.
The SP.u is funded for an initial period of 2 years, and the year 2 (2004/2005) targets are already well on track.
Training and Education
The Syndicated Procurement Unit has also launched a new public sector procurement training programme, which begins on the 24 June with the first of a series of training seminars.
The programme has been developed in conjunction with the Procurement Advisory Group (PAG) and the Public Service Training Organization (PSTO).
The programme consists of two parts - a series of training seminars and two formal NZQA qualifications.
These are designed to provide agency staff with increased procurement knowledge, including a sound background in relevant government policies and practices. The seminars also cover much of the material people need to be aware of if they plan to pursue either of the formal qualifications. In particular, anyone planning to pursue the Diploma level qualification is strongly encouraged to attend the seminars.
The first training seminar is on 24 June and is a one-day session on Ethics.
There are also a series of workshops running outside this formal training programme. These include topics such as Purchase Cards, Travel Management, Electricity and Energy Management etc, and involve agencies sharing their experience and success within these categories over 2 hours. This provides agencies with proven hands on knowledge and a good networking opportunity amongst their peers.
Survey
The first SP.u stakeholder survey has been completed and the feedback from agencies & suppliers is currently being analysed. Initial findings are very positive both in terms of awareness of the unit and in suggested changes and focus areas for the future.
Thank you to everyone who participated in this survey, the findings will be published on the website later in July.
For more information, http://www.e-government.govt.nz/procurement/
