News in View: Blair seeks to consolidate e-procurement

The UK government's attempts to modernise procurement will not work unless it can persuade departments to overcome a natural aversion to working together. This is the finding of this week's News in View feature at Silicon.com.

Tony Blair has let it be known that he expects £1bn to be cut from the procurement bill following the introduction of the Office of Government Commerce. The Treasury says this will be accomplished if government departments and agencies break out of their "silo" thinking and join together in projects that benefit the citizen. This joined-up model will become vital in major IT project in the next millennium.

But as the Treasury prepares to launch an online shopping mall on the Government Secure Intranet, it's clear that departments still have a long way to go before they embrace ecommerce - and the cost savings it offers - like the private sector has done.

You can view the full programme in the Silicon.com's Government Channel [http://www.silicon.com/government ].