The Minister for the Cabinet Office has outlined a new strategy to ensure the Government "acts as a single customer" when it comes to buying in contracts.
Francis Maude has proposed plans meaning Government departments can no longer work individually to negotiate with major suppliers. In the past this has led to multiple contracts with the same vendor.
He has named a board of "Crown Representatives" to oversee existing contracts, as well as encourage competition for new players to bring their pitches to the table.
"Our priority is to make sure the taxpaying public gets the best possible deal - and one of the ways of doing this is to ensure we're really using the scale of Government to push down prices," said Maude.
"That is why any dealings with our big suppliers have to be coordinated and our approach has to be strategic the new Crown Representatives will make sure this happens."
He claimed the change so far to make the Government act as one entity has saved in the region of 800 million since July last year, but added more needed to be done.
"We recognised that we need better, more efficient relationships with suppliers over the long term," said Maude.
Members of the new board include Martin Bellamy, ICT and change director for the National Offender Management Service, David Thomas, commercial director at HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) and Vincent Godfrey, procurement director for the Ministry of Justice.
"Government is a complex and large buyer of goods and services and it is entirely appropriate to adopt the Crown Representative model in order to manage the top end of our supply chain effectively," said Thomas.
Two representatives from the private sector were also been appointed Stephen Allot and Stephen Kelly to build on the Government's relationship with smaller suppliers.
The move has received praise from the industry at large.
"The Efficiency and Reform Group measures announced today for the Crown to act as a single customer to its supply bases are a positive step," said Vicki Saward, head of Government for BAE Systems Detica.
"The Crown's enhanced strategic view of suppliers' work with Government will be key in removing duplication of initiatives and ensure that the Government gets the best value for money from suppliers of all services."
Technology companies set to deal with the new body include Accenture, BT, Cable and Wireless, Cisco, Fujitsu, HP, IBM, Microsoft, Oracle, SAP and Vodafone.
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