The National Police Procurement Hub, Powered by ProcServe, Goes Live

12th August 2011, LONDON, UK - ProcServe, a leading provider of eProcurement solutions, is delighted to announce that the NPIA's new online procurement hub, powered by ProcServe technology, goes live with the first police force today. The National Police Procurement Hub will play a vital role in enabling police forces to buy good and services online.

Lincolnshire Police will be the first force to use the new National Police Procurement Hub (NPPH). The Hub gives the police service the ability to select, purchase and pay for a range of approved goods and services online from 500 suppliers, and is set to save the police service £30 million over six years. It will enable Lincolnshire to buy approved items such as IT, body armour, vehicles and a whole range of other goods and services, at the touch of a button.

This new ACPO (Association of Chief Police Officers) endorsed initiative is being delivered by the NPIA in partnership with ProcServe, a company which provides electronic procurement products. The NPIA is in the process of rolling it out across all 43 forces starting with Lincolnshire. All forces are expected to be using the hub by June 2012.

In addition to the £30 million cash saving, other benefits include:

• Making the procurement process more efficient by enabling forces to buy together and reduce costs
• A centrally managed process saving forces time on managing their own procurement process
• Providing forces with easy access to best value contracts 
• Enabling SMEs (small medium enterprises) and other suppliers to work more efficiently with the police service.

Sue Moffatt, Head of Commercial and Procurement at the NPIA, said "It's great to see this hugely beneficial service go live for the first time. The police service is committed to deliver significant savings from better procurement. It is absolutely vital that those charged with buying goods and services have access to the tools that make them available quickly, and directly to their desktop, and now Lincolnshire does."

"The Hub complements existing procurement processes across the police service so forces do not need to invest in replacing current systems. It enhances existing processes and provides a simple online shopping system to access best value products and services."

Peter Steed, Assistant Chief Officer and Director of Resources at Lincolnshire Police, said "In these financially challenging times it is essential that we take every opportunity to maintain services whilst reducing costs. We are therefore delighted to be the first Force to adopt this system which will enable us to make significant time and cost savings on the goods that we
purchase."

Jim Knox, CEO of ProcServe is delighted to welcome Lincolnshire Police to the rapidly expanding community of ProcServe's customers, stating, "This is a big step forward for the forces which will enable procurement to deliver more savings. This is an exciting new programme that will create a truly collaborative eMarketplace for all police forces and their suppliers across England and Wales."

Media Contacts:
Cora Byrne, ProcServe
T: +44(0)7889 996345
E: cora.byrne@procserve.com

Valentine Murombe-Chivero, NPIA
T: +44(0)20 3113 7240
E: valentine.murombe-chivero@npia.pnn.police.uk

Notes to Editors

About the National Police Procurement Hub
Phased implementation will result in savings totalling up to £30 million over a six year period.
Initial set up of the Police Procurement Hub will be funded by the NPIA. Forces will start paying a subscription to use the hub at the start of the financial year 2012/2013.

The NPIA will work with forces across England and Wales to negotiate and agree implementation dates, but it is expected to be rolled out to all forces across England and Wales by June 2012.

About NPIA
The National Policing Improvement Agency (NPIA) was formed in April 2007 to make a unique contribution to improving public safety. They are following the remit to improve public safety through the provision of:
• Providing critical national services
• Building capability across the police service
• Providing professional expertise to police forces and authorities

On 26 July 2010 the new coalition Government published the consultation document, Policing in the 21st Century: Re-connecting the police and the people. It sets out the government's vision for the most radical change to policing in fifty years. In response to the Government's consultation document, the agency's improvement priorities have been condensed into two main themes - cost effectiveness and critical national services. For more information, please visit www.npia.police.uk.

About ProcServe
ProcServe offers a cloud-based solution for businesses who wish to buy goods and services from their suppliers electronically, saving time and money. The solution overcomes a major barrier to electronic procurement, namely that buyers and suppliers use a wide range of separate back office systems that receive and process data in different formats. ProcServe's key offer is a ‘Procurement Hub' which enables buyers and suppliers to get connected and transact efficiently.

By connecting to the ProcServe Hub, buyers and suppliers automatically belong to the ProcServe Trading Network which provides the ability to join and share procurement information with similar organisations. ProcServe also provides some of the key marketplaces across the UK public sector including OPEN, xchangewales eTrading, xchangewales eTrading for Schools, Procurement for Housing eMarketplace and the National Police Procurement Hub. For more information, please visit www.procserve.com.