'Amazon-style' police procurement hub goes live

Police claim new system will allow its 43 forces to save £30m in costs relating to procurement of IT and other equipment over six years

A police procurement hub designed to shave £30m off coppers' IT and equipment costs went live this morning.

Lincolnshire Police will be the first force to use the new National Police Procurement Hub (NPPH), which will eventually feature a range of approved goods and services – including IT, body armour and vehicles – from 500 suppliers.

All 43 forces are expected to be using the "Amazon-style" hub by June 2012.

Set up by the National Police Improvement Agency (NPIA) in partnership with ProcServe, NPPH is designed to cut £30m from police procurement costs over six years.

An NPIA representative said he thought the hub currently lists about 100 suppliers and that the 500 figure will be reached by next April. He was unable to provide information on their identity.

NPIA said the NPPH would make the procurement process more efficient by enabling forces to buy together. It is also designed to improve SME suppliers' access to the police.

Its launch comes a month after the government announced that responsibility for the procurement of police IT contracts will fall under the remit of a standalone company from next spring.

Sue Moffatt, head of commercial and procurement at the NPIA, said the hub would complement existing procurement processes across the police services. This will mean forces do not need to invest in replacing current systems, she said.

"The police service is committed to deliver significant savings from better procurement," Moffatt said. "It is absolutely vital that those charged with buying goods and services have access direct from their desktop to the tools that make them available quickly, and directly to their desktop, and now Lincolnshire does."

Peter Steed, assistant chief officer at Lincolnshire Police, said: "In these financially challenging times it is essential that we take every opportunity to maintain services whilst reducing costs."