Crown Commercial Service (CCS) has announced that a record number of commercial benefits were achieved by public sector customers, according to their latest annual report and accounts.
The report and accounts for 2022/23 show that the public sector was able to achieve a record of £3.8 billion worth of commercial benefits thanks to CCS agreements. This is a rise of £800 million in comparison to the previous year and includes £11.4 million of savings for 26 sector customers on four mobile and data aggregation services.
2022/23 saw CCS widening its procurement expertise and opening the door for new commercial routes for customers. An example of this can be seen through the launch of the first of a kind Big Data and Analytics agreement which will help to support public sector requirements as they look to constantly innovate.
Findings of the report include:
- MoRe than £31 billion of all types of public sector spend was channelled through CCS agreements.
- Commercial benefits equivalent to £3.8 billion were achieved by customers who have used CCS products and services.
- According to the Civil Service People Survey, CCS’s employee engagement index remained at 69% for 2022.
- Central government spend worth £2.6 billion (14.4%) was with 1,541 Small and Medium Sized Enterprises, a rise of £340 million in comparison to 2021/22.
- A total annual contract value of £2.3 billion was delivered for customers, helped by the assisted procurement service.
Parliamentary Secretary for the Cabinet Office, Alex Burghart, said:
“Getting commercial and procurement decisions right is crucial to good government. Crown Commercial Service is helping central government and other public bodies get just those decisions right – improving services and saving the taxpayer money as they do.”
Alongside delivering good value, spending through CCS frameworks has increased, with this surpassing £31 billion for 2022/23. Thanks to this fact, CCS’ target of £30 billion by 2024 has already been reached and has resulted in a doubling of spend through its agreements in five years. This also represents growth of more than £3 billion in comparison to last year.
Small and medium-sized enterprises have also been a focus of efforts to enable their participation in commercial agreements. This progress has seen £2.6 billion (14.4%) of central government spend was directly with SMEs, with an increase of £340 million when compared to 2021/2022.
Simon Tse, CEO of Crown Commercial Service, added:
“We want to continue to deepen our impact and bring our commercial expertise to bear across the entire public sector.
“We have a clear vision for our future. Underpinning this vision is a comprehensive strategy that is focused on developing our products and services and ensuring that the customer is at the centre of everything we do.”
Public sector policy priorities have been further supported through CCS agreements, with these priorities including net zero and social value. One such example of these being support through CCS agreements is that SMEs are able to access public procurement opportunities, as well as the encouragement of prompt payment practice.
