HMRC Wins Central Government Procurement Award

I kid you not!

Could someone though please explain what this means?

"In terms of spend analysis, HMRC has consolidated, cleansed and enriched spend data for more than 21,000 suppliers and 1.3 million invoice transactions."

Central Government Procurement Award
sponsored by DHRinterim March 2010
Awarded to the central government agency that is judged to have increased value to the taxpayer through smarter procurement practice. Entry is open to central government agencies.

Winner: HM Revenue and Customs

Spend, Sourcing & Procurement technologies
HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) was formed in April 2005, following the merger of Inland Revenue and HM Customs and Excise Departments. In 2009, HMRC collected net tax receipts in excess of £400 billion, and has more than 83,000 employees at 300 locations around the UK.

HMRC is responsible for £2.2 billion in annual spending, and purchases everything from standard office supplies and print services, to industrial truck scanners and ships, and even dogs for customs work. Plans to make HMRC more efficient and open in its sourcing practices, as well as move to a more focused procurement activity, led to the implementation of an Emptoris technology suite for sourcing, spend analysis, contract management and supplier performance management.

Spend analysis and sourcing technologies are in wide use in the private sector at leading global companies. Getting a public sector organisation like HMRC in line with these practices is a huge task.

In January 2007, HMRC initiated a pilot project using spend analysis software to collate and enrich its spend data. In February 2008, HMRC then initiated a second pilot program, using advanced sourcing software, which aimed to enable the department with more efficient, effective and open sourcing practices for the goods and services it procures.

Having clear and deep visibility into organisation-wide spend allows it to effectively target key areas for cost savings and clearly demonstrate the value delivered. The information capability of spend analysis software is also critical to helping the organisation report more effectively to government auditors. Finally, the contract management technology initiative addresses the recommendations of a government audit, and improves the efficiency of the Department’s contracting processes, as well as the terms of, and compliance to, HMRC contracts.

In terms of spend analysis, HMRC has consolidated, cleansed and enriched spend data for more than 21,000 suppliers and 1.3 million invoice transactions. In terms of the application of sourcing technology, HMRC has run more than 45 sourcing events for a total spending of £300 million. Sourcing technologies have already helped HMRC to achieve savings of as high as 30 per cent in key spend categories and e-auction events.

These technologies have allowed HMRC to streamline and take paper out of the process, which has efficiency as well as sustainability benefits. Perhaps even more importantly, it has improved visibility and control over public spending – and improved accountability and responsiveness to taxpayers and Central Government.

Tax does have to be taxing.

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