5.39 To address this the Office of Government Commerce (OGC) reformed the Government Procurement Service (GPS), alongside the existing Professional Skills for Government programme. The vision for the reformed GPS is to create a sustainable balance of appropriately skilled and suitably managed procurement professionals, to match the growing scale and complexity of the Government's delivery agenda.
The role of the GPS is to provide:
∙ professional leadership and standards for government procurement professionals;
∙ a central framework of professional competencies; learning and development opportunities;
∙ career development support and advice; and
∙ to streamline and formalise entry routes to the profession across government that are supported by tailored learning and development portfolios.
Box 5.4 describes the progress made by the GPS.
| Box 5.4 The Government Procurement Service • The new Chief Executive of the OGC was appointed as head of the GPS to raise its status in line with the approach taken by other professional bodies within the civil service. • The GPS Council has been established, comprising, the head of the GPS and the departmental heads of profession, to provide leadership to the procurement profession across central government. • A skills strategy has been developed to provide a framework to identify gaps and create learning and development interventions to meet capability requirements. • A competency framework for procurement practitioners and leaders has been set out. • The GPS now provides professional career development support, and advice and details of learning and development opportunities across government. • The GPS has launched three new routes into the procurement profession: • the Government Procurement Graduate Scheme, which takes trainees through a two-year accelerated learning and development programme, the second intake for this scheme is currently being recruited; • the Fast Stream Procurement Placement Option, which offers a number of places in commercial roles, with the aim of equipping future senior civil servants with a sound understanding of the significance and complexity of procurement activities; and • GPS Switch Track (mid-career entry), a pilot scheme to help departments meet their need for more professionally qualified procurement managers, allowing civil servants to switch career into the GPS and obtain professional accreditation. |
5.40 During 2008 the OGC will continue to work closely with the departmental heads of profession to raise the profile of procurement as a profession within government and to increase the membership of the GPS. It will further develop its learning and development programme to ensure appropriate opportunities are in place to meet the needs of departments and the wider public sector.