The Government is seeking commercial partners to build a procurement web portal for products and services bought by local authorities.

A pathfinder prospectus for the <idea>marketplace has been published on the web (www.idea.gov.uk/marketplace) by the Local Government Information House Ltd (LGIH), on behalf of the Improvement and Development Agency for local government (IDeA). Potential private sector collaborators will be able to attend a bidders' conference on the 8 September and will have until the 27 September to respond.

English and Welsh local councils spend over £25 billion each year on goods and services and more than £2bn administering over 35 million purchasing transactions.

Local Government Information House says the electronic shopping mall is not intended to compete with existing arrangements. Instead, the service will build on best practice and link to
existing electronic catalogues allowing them to be searched with a single query.

The creation of a web-based system to manage ordering and payments is expected to save about 15% on the combined purchase and transaction costs of local government procurement.

The origins of the project lie in the review of local government procurement conducted earlier this year by Gary Richardson, Director of Assets and Resources for Slough Borough Council. Richardson believes the savings are a "given". He says that once the system is up and running it will be up to the authorities to grasp the opportunity. Each council will be able to decide its own criteria for a "best buy".

IDeA Chairman, Cllr Colin Barrow said: "Harnessing the power of the internet to deliver greater efficiency in the buying of goods and services is a worthwhile aim. However, the real value of idea<marketplace> is the revolutionary effects it will have on local government service delivery. idea<marketplace> will be free to access, will release vast amounts of resources for frontline priorities and drive the spread of internet technology through councils."

Richard Byatt