Download or read book The Procurement of Goods and Services by H. M. Prison Service written by Great Britain. National Audit Office and published by The Stationery Office. This book was released on 2008 with total page 32 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Since a critical 2003 National Audit Office report (HC 562 session 2002-03, ISBN 9780102921250) the Prison Service has implemented a new procurement strategy, led by a new centralised professional procurement team backed up by regional purchasing units which negotiate central contracts for a range of goods and services. At the same time the Prison Service has introduced a shared service centre to provide administrative functions, including purchasing, for prisons. The implementation of these two reforms has enabled the Prison Service to make significant savings in both purchasing and administrative costs. As a result of the changes, prisons now receive more consistent supplies of goods and services often at much lower prices than before. The progress made by the Prison Service has been recognised by the Chartered Institute of Purchasing and Supply with two awards for excellence in 2006 and 2007. The Prison Service is still capable of making further savings. In the near term it should concentrate its efforts on bringing more expenditure under the remit of its nationally negotiated contracts, and help to improve compliance by prisons with the new arrangements by further communicating the benefits of its national procurement approach.