5.43 Procurement Capability Reviews (PCRs) were piloted in early 2007 and rolled out across government during the year. The purpose of these reviews is to assess how far procurement meets the demanding standards required to deliver value for money. PCRs provide an independent, strategic view of the overall procurement capability of a department and its wider network of agencies, identifying exemplars as well as areas for improvement. The reviews perform a challenge function at a strategic and structural level, covering the widest definition of procurement from commodities through to complex projects, including the whole life cycle, from policy and strategy to delivery and disposal.
5.44 The reviews involve small teams of high calibre commercial, procurement and programme and project management experts, drawn from the public and private sectors, engaging with departments over a relatively short but intensive period of three to four weeks. The OGC has committed to delivering 18 reviews by December 2008. The first three reviews, covering the former Department for Education and Skills, the Department for Communities and Local Government, and the Department for Work and Pensions, have been completed and the findings published. Each department has an individual action plan and follow up review to ensure that recommendations are acted upon. The next tranche of reviews will be published in early summer 2008.
5.45 Initial findings from the first three reviews have concluded that in order to meet the challenges of the different environments within which they operate the departments have each applied different approaches. The variable range of capability across the three departments is due to a number of factors and there is no single, simple solution to the issues they face. As the PCR programme grows, OGC will be drawing together the key themes and developing strategies to address the most pressing issues on a cross-government basis.
5.46 Procurement activity necessarily varies across departments, but all departments are assessed against a central common set of criteria based on three major capability areas - leadership, skills development and deployment, and systems and processes - with nine key indicators:
• visibility and impact of leadership;
• vision, aspirations, business and policy alignment;
• stakeholder and supply base confidence levels;
• effective resourcing of procurement activity;
• intelligent client capability;
• governance and organisation;
• strategic and collaborative approach to market engagement and sourcing;
• effective use of procurement and project and programme management tools and techniques; and
• knowledge and performance management.
5.47 The PCR programme is central to the Government's aim to ensure that procurement drives public service improvement. Actions based on recommendations from PCRs are expected to result in improvements to leadership, systems and skills, and ultimately to greater value from procurement.