The Crown Commercial Service (CCS) is an

executive agency An executive agency is a part of a government department that is treated as managerially and budgetarily separate, to carry out some part of the executive functions of the United Kingdom government, Scottish Government, Welsh Government or Nort ...

and

trading fund A trading fund is an executive agency, government department or often simply a part of a department, that enables the department to handle its own revenues and expenses separately from overall government finances and more like a business, as opposed ...

of the

Cabinet Office The Cabinet Office is a department of His Majesty's Government responsible for supporting the prime minister and Cabinet. It is composed of various units that support Cabinet committees and which co-ordinate the delivery of government objecti ...

of the

UK Government ga, Rialtas a Shoilse gd, Riaghaltas a Mhòrachd , image = HM Government logo.svg , image_size = 220px , image2 = Royal Coat of Arms of the United Kingdom (HM Government).svg , image_size2 = 180px , caption = Royal Arms , date_es ...

. The CCS is responsible for managing the

procurement Procurement is the method of discovering and agreeing to terms and purchasing goods, Service (economics), services, or other works from an external source, often with the use of a tendering or competitive bidding process. When a government agenc ...

of common goods and services, increasing savings for the taxpayer by centralising buying requirements, and leading on procurement policy on behalf of the government.

History

CCS was originally created as the Buying Agency on 1 April 1991. On 1 April 2000, it became part of the newly established

Office of Government Commerce The Office of Government Commerce (OGC) was a UK Government Office established as part of HM Treasury in 2000. It was moved into the Efficiency and Reform Group of the Cabinet Office in 2010, before being closed in 2011. Overview A ''Review of ...

(OGC) within

HM Treasury His Majesty's Treasury (HM Treasury), occasionally referred to as the Exchequer, or more informally the Treasury, is a department of His Majesty's Government responsible for developing and executing the government's public finance policy and ec ...

. On 1 April 2001, the Buying Agency, the

Central Computer and Telecommunications Agency The Central Computer and Telecommunications Agency (CCTA) was a UK government agency providing computer and telecoms support to government departments. History Formation In 1957, the UK government formed the Technical Support Unit (TSU) of ...

Property Advisors to the Civil Estate The Office of Government Commerce (OGC) was a UK Government Office established as part of HM Treasury in 2000. It was moved into the Efficiency and Reform Group of the Cabinet Office in 2010, before being closed in 2011. Overview A ''Review of ...

and other units from the Treasury merged to form OGCbuying.solutions. The agency's name was changed to just Buying Solutions in April 2009. On 15 June 2010, it moved, along with its parent agency the OGC, to become part of the

Efficiency and Reform Group The Efficiency and Reform Group (ERG), established in 2010, was part of the Cabinet Office which worked in partnership with HM Treasury to form the corporate centre for UK Government. Its objectives were to reform the way government works and ...

within the

. Its name was changed to the Government Procurement Service (GPS) in July 2011. In January 2014 the GPS merged with the procurement management from government departments to form the Crown Commercial Service (CCS).

Operations

CCS operates as a

established under the Government Trading Funds Act 1973, as amended in 1990, with offices in

Liverpool Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the 10th largest English district by population and its metropolitan area is the fifth largest in the United Kingdom, with a popul ...

Norwich Norwich () is a cathedral city and district of Norfolk, England, of which it is the county town. Norwich is by the River Wensum, about north-east of London, north of Ipswich and east of Peterborough. As the seat of the See of Norwich, with ...

, Newport,

Leeds Leeds () is a city and the administrative centre of the City of Leeds district in West Yorkshire, England. It is built around the River Aire and is in the eastern foothills of the Pennines. It is also the third-largest settlement (by populati ...

and

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

Procurement services

CCS provides professional procurement services to the public sector to enable organisations to deliver improved value for money in their commercial activities and provide professional support when it matters, advising on technical issues, energy-saving and environmental improvements. CCS's operations break down into framework agreements, which are a set of pre-tendered with a range of suppliers from which public sector customers can purchase goods and services. A small commission (typically less than 1%) is collected from the suppliers for each sale they make under these frameworks agreements.

Procurement policy

UK Government ''Procurement Policy Notes'' were in the past issued by CCS. These are now issued in the name of the Cabinet Office, but the CCS Helpdesk acts as the contact point for any queries. A separate series of ''Scottish Procurement Policy Notes'' is published by the Scottish Government.

Management of the Government Secure Intranet (GSi)

As part of its support of the national government Internet infrastructure, CCS manages the UK's

Government Secure Intranet Government Secure Intranet (GSi) was a United Kingdom government wide area network, whose main purpose was to enable connected organisations to communicate electronically and securely at low protective marking levels. It was known for the '.gsi. ...

(GSi), including the entire third-level government domain .gsi.gov.uk and its

sub-domain In the Domain Name System (DNS) hierarchy, a subdomain is a domain that is a part of another (main) domain. For example, if a domain offered an online store as part of their website example.com, it might use the subdomain shop.example.com . Ov ...

References

External links

Official website
*Cabinet Office, Efficiency and Reform Group, and Crown Commercial Service
Procurement policy notes
see als
Procurement policy notes
archived by the National Archives on 14 July 2014 {{Cabinet Office Executive agencies of the United Kingdom government Cabinet Office (United Kingdom) Trading funds of the United Kingdom government Government procurement in the United Kingdom 1991 establishments in the United Kingdom Government agencies established in 1991 Organisations based in Liverpool