18 CCS and the Cabinet Office have left a number of strategic issues unresolved. It is not clear to us:
• Whether the original CCS mandate remains
The review did not challenge the overall aim of CCS to centralise the buying of common goods and services. It also did not challenge the government's intention to increase the proportion of common goods and services that were bought either in bulk or through more commercially focused procurement frameworks. However, CCS has suspended its original transition plan and it no longer intends to require all departments to transfer procurement staff to CCS. CCS's senior management told us that they believe that once CCS has demonstrated that it has improved service quality and is buying at competitive prices, departments will want CCS to buy on their behalf. However, CCS believes that once greater credibility has been established, a continued mandate will still be important (paragraphs 3.8 to 3.11).
• How CCS best contributes to the government's wider plans for improving commercial capability
Since 2013 there has been an increased focus on government's wider commercial capability. Departments plan to increase the number of senior commercial staff and reduce the number of junior staff. This will require most small contracts to be bought and managed either directly by line teams or through a central buying function, without significant involvement from the departmental commercial team. This is likely to increase the need for a more professional and efficient central buying organisation. In addition, CCS's standardisation of its services and plan to move certain functions back to departments will have an impact on departments and their commercial functions (paragraphs 3.14 and 3.16).
• How CCS intends to achieve its ambitious plans for increasing the use of the wider public sector of its frameworks, without compromising service delivery for central government
CCS's published Business Plan for 2016-17 sets out an increase of up to 20% in the use of its frameworks by organisations in the wider public sector such NHS Trusts, local authorities and the police. By the end of the current Parliament, CCS hopes to achieve a doubling of its business from the wider public sector to around £10 billion to £12 billion. It does not yet have detailed and clear plans for how it will achieve this. It is currently working towards an internal target of 8% growth in its wider public sector business (paragraph 3.12 and Figure 18).
• Why CCS contains functions and people that do not belong in a central buying agency
Beyond its role as the buyer of common goods and services, CCS includes teams which advise departments on complex procurements, develop its commercial capability and manage relationships with strategically important suppliers. These teams are formally part of CCS but report to the government's chief commercial officer rather than the CCS accounting officer. CCS also includes a team which manages the government procurement policy. These arrangements blur the lines of accountability and, from an accounting perspective, reduce the clear line of sight of how CCS uses its resources (paragraph 3.13 and Figure 18).