Our audit approach

1  This study examined the Crown Commercial Service (CCS) performance as the government's newly created central buying agency for common goods and services. CCS is central to the government's commercial reform programme, which aims to save money on government procurement, improve the quality of the commercial service to central government and the wider public sector, and develop a sustainable approach to commercial and procurement activity. We made these aims central to our evaluative criteria and conclusion on value for money:

a  To assess CCS's business model we evaluated the business case for creating it, the implementation strategy and how CCS performed against its initial targets.

b  We then looked at customer feedback, CCS's own data and internal audit reports to assess CCS's performance in its buying operations.

c  Turning to CCS's growth plans we scrutinised its growth strategies, future project planning documents, its control environment and feedback from departments.

2  Our audit approach is summarised in Figure 19 overleaf. Our evidence base is describe in Appendix Two.

3  Our report focused on the creation of CCS, its operations and its performance as a buying organisation. We have not considered its policy operations, capability development, advisory function, or supplier management.

Our audit approach