The Crown Commercial Service has said it is “too early to say” what the longer-term implications of Britain's decision to leave the European Union will be on procurement rules.
In a statement, the CCS – which aims to centralise and reduce government spending on buying in goods and services – said it had received a number of questions following the UK’s vote last week to leave the EU.
It stressed that the current rules will continue to apply until the UK has left the EU, following the successful conclusion of negative negotiations.
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“We are considering the longer term opportunities and will be advising ministers,” the statement said. “In the meantime, CCS remains focussed on delivering value for money for our customers and the taxpayer.”
Meanwhile, the CCS has published its 2016-17 business plan, which sets out plans to save between £140 million and £180m on technology during the year.
The plan said that the service’s ongoing digital transformation programme – which has a 2016-17 budget of £4.5m - is key to driving savings.
“We will invest significantly in technology in the year ahead to replace or refresh many existing systems to deliver services more efficiently and free up capacity,” it said.
The CCS said that the next year would also see a number of milestones for the Crown Marketplace project, its digital platform for departments to find suppliers. These include sign-off on the business case and the start of the pilot phase.