Online auction slashes 41 per cent off gov't IT price tag

An online auction has saved 12 public sector organisations a combined £2.7m on the purchase of IT hardware.

The latest auction, the fifth of a series run by public sector procurement body the Office of Government Commerce (OGC), led to a 41 per cent reduction in purchase price against the starting bid of £6.5m.

The auction ran for just over seven hours and led to a total of 400 bids from seven IT suppliers. Among the 12 public sector bodies to use the auction to procure IT hardware were various NHS Trusts, a social housing body and a primary school.

The OGC also claims it is the first online public sector auction to use "transformational" bidding, which factors in a supplier's qualitative evaluation as well as price.

Richard Abbott, OGC procurement programmes director, said online auctions reduce cost and bureaucracy and will be used for much bigger IT purchasing deals in the future.

He said in a statement: "The OGC will be continuing to look at leveraging significantly larger and more strategic engagements with the key players in the IT hardware market."

The technical elements of the auction were managed by service provider Achilles on behalf of the OGC.