A move by the government to develop a centralised procurement registration system has been revealed by Cabinet Office minister Francis Maude.

The development of the system, which has been awarded to NQC by the Government Procurement Service (GPS), would seek to increase the ease in which suppliers could bid for public sector work.

In having a single procurement registration platform, suppliers would be able to avoid the difficulties of the current system, which requires that suppliers register on several systems at once, in order to tender for public sector contracts, which increased expenses and time, particularly for SMEs.

The NQC developed platform will bring around 80,000 registered suppliers to around the same number of end-users. The platform will debt in April, being employed within the health sector before being moved across to other departments.

Francis Maude said: “it will reduce the time and cost spent tendering for government business – especially important for SMEs – and will improve how we share analysis of supplier financial information across government.”

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