PN 8: A New Chief Executive for the Office of Government Commerce

The Prime Minister, with the agreement of the Chancellor, has appointed John Oughton as the new Chief Executive of the Office of Government Commerce (OGC), which leads the drive to modernise government procurement and deliver value for money savings in the government’s commercial activities. Mr Oughton, who has been the deputy Chief Executive since April 2003, will take over as Chief Executive from Sir Peter Gershon on 1 April 2004. He will also be joining the Treasury Management Board as a non-executive member.

Chancellor of the Exchequer, Gordon Brown said:

“I am delighted that John Oughton has been appointed. He brings a wealth of expertise and experience to the job. He is a worthy successor to Sir Peter Gershon, and will play a key role in improving
government procurement and promoting efficiency across the public sector. I am very grateful to Sir Peter both for setting up the Office of Government Commerce and for making it a key driver for public sector reform. I welcome his continuing non-executive role in supporting efficiency implementation.”

DETAILS

Implementing efficiency

Reporting jointly to the Prime Minister and the Chancellor, John Oughton will be responsible for implementing the efficiency review, instituted in Budget 2003 and taken forward in its first phase by Sir Peter Gershon. He will work closely with the Treasury and other Government departments, and will chair
an interdepartmental steering group, which will oversee implementation. The steering group will comprise key departmental representatives as well as external members.

The Spending Review will require efficiency improvements across the public sector of 2.5 per cent a year over the SR2004 period (2005-06 to 2007-08). The Office of Government Commerce, working with departments and the wider public sector, will play a key role in delivering these improvements.

On procurement, having achieved value for money gains of £1.6billion since its inception to March 2003 and with a target to realise further gains of £3 billion in central government civil procurement by 2005-06, a new target is being set:

• to deliver a further £3 billlion across the SR2004 period – 2005-06 to 2007-08 – in central government civil procurement.

Sir Peter Gershon has agreed to stay on as a non-executive member of the Treasury Management Board after his departure from the OGC. He will also sit on the interdepartmental steering group overseeing the implementation of the efficiency review to ensure continuity and to enable him to play a key role in the implementation of his recommendations on efficiency.

NOTES FOR EDITORS

John Oughton (51) is currently Deputy Chief Executive of the OGC, leading the OGC’s work to support government departments in delivering major acquisition programmes and projects successfully. In a public service career in the Ministry of Defence, the Cabinet Office and now the OGC in the Treasury, John has held appointments in both the policy and delivery fields. He was Director of Procurement Policy in the Ministry of Defence. Under the previous government he was, from 1993-1997, Head of the Government’s Efficiency Unit, and he continued in this role after May 1997, when the Efficiency Unit worked with No 10 and the Treasury on the new government’s first comprehensive spending review. From 1998 until 2003 he was, in the Ministry of Defence, the senior civilian responsible for leading the
modernisation programme in the new Defence Logistics Organisation, first as head of the implementation team creating the DLO and then as Deputy Chief
of Defence Logistics.

The Office of Government Commerce (OGC) is an independent Office of the Treasury reporting to the Chief Secretary. It is responsible for a wide-ranging programme that focuses on improving the efficiency and effectiveness of central civil Government procurement. In addition, OGC has an important role
in developing and promoting private sector involvement across the public sector. From 2003-04, OGC has assumed a key role in assisting departments set up project and programme management centres of excellence in departments. These new units will become central points for embedding project and programme management best practice across Government.