Who we are
The DWP Purchasing organisation consists of two distinct operational functions:
- The Commercial Directorate
- The Programme and Systems Delivery division (PSD)
The Commercial Directorate
The Commercial Directorate is part of DWP Group Finance and is led by David Smith, DWP Commercial Director. The Commercial Directorate has four divisions:
- Commercial Strategy and Development, led by Lee Tribe
- Strategic Sourcing, led by John Michalski
- Commercial Management, led by Barry Leighton and
- Commercial Employment Provision, led by Rob Wormald.
Where we are
Staff are located across seven main sites:
- Tavis House, London
- Quarry House, Leeds
- Mayfield Court, Sheffield
- Norcross, Lancashire
- Heywood, Lancashire
- Durham House, Washington, Tyne & Wear; and
- Benton Park View, Newcastle.
Estates staff also occupy a mixture of local office and campus sites across the country, providing contract management and local building management functions.
Locations of Commmercial Employment Provision (CEP) Contract Managers
CEP contract managers are located across six main sites:
- Argyle House, Edinburgh
- Companies House, Cardiff
- Duchess Place, Birmingham
- Grays Inn Road, London
- Steel City House, Sheffield
- Whitehall 2, Leeds.
Our customers
The Commercial Directorate’s customers are:
- the DWP Accounting Officer and Principal Finance Office (PFO) as recipients of commercial assurance services
- DWP business managers as recipients of goods and services delivered under Commercial Directorate deals to support their business or offer advice on commercial solutions to business issues
- DWP contract sponsors as business owners of particular deals let or managed on their behalf by Commercial Directorate staff
- DWP budget holders who authorise payment against deals let by Commercial Directorate staff
- end-users of the goods and services acquired via the contracts or frameworks let by Commercial Directorate staff. (In cases where The Commercial Directorate manages cross-Government deals, end-users can be in Other Government Departments (OGDs)); and
- staff engaged in procurement activity, including professional procurement staff, across all parts of DWP (and its agencies and Non-Departmental Public Bodies (NDPBs)).
Our budgets
In 2006-7 the department spent about £4.27 billion with external suppliers. These include providers from the private sector and the public, voluntary and community sectors.
The Commercial Directorate directly manages major contracts for the delivery of services to DWP with a total annual value of about £2.4 b illion (56% of the total). The largest contracts cover the national provision of estates services and Commercial Employment Provision .
With the corporate commercial function remit the Directorate sets the commercial policy and assurance frameworks for contracts managed by other DWP units, for example IS/IT contracts managed by PSD, and also influence DWP contracts with a total annual value of a further £1.9 billion.
Programme and Systems Delivery Group (PSD)
Programme and Systems Delivery Group (PSD) deliver effective, reliable and value for money information systems and services for the Department. Together with DWP's client groups and businesses, it works to deliver the Department's modernisation programme. Joe Harley is the Group Director of PSD and the Chief Information Officer.
Information Technology is critical to the successful delivery of the Government's welfare reform agenda. It supports the current business of the department, providing services for making payments, processing claims for benefits and helping people find jobs. The Modernisation Programme, is transforming our businesses by implementing major organisational and business process change.
The Department is the largest and most significant purchaser and operator (through third parties) of IT services in Northern Europe.
Underpinning the Department's delivery of the Modernisation Programme is the IS/IT Strategy. The IS/IT strategy principles are in line with industry best practice and focus on delivery and the reduction of risk. They require:
- more frequent, smaller incremental improvements to our IT rather than 'big bang'
- greater use of off-the-shelf commercial packages (COTS) rather than the development of bespoke solutions
- integration of existing systems with new technologies to improve the availability of reliable data.
The Department's strategic approach to IS/IT was developed in 2002. It will be revised during 2005 to ensure that it fully reflects new technological opportunities.
PSD is undergoing a major transformation programme to enable the delivery of the IT systems the Department needs to achieve its future plans. Central to this is the development and implementation of a new operating model reflecting industry best practice, restructured with a smaller, more highly skilled and professional workforce which will boost the Department's overall IT capability.