Crown Commercial Service

CCS was originally created as the Buying Agency on 1 April 1991. On 1 April 2000, it became part of the newly established Office of Government Commerce (OGC) within HM Treasury. On 1 April 2001, the Buying Agency, the Central Computer and Telecommunications Agency, Property Advisors to the Civil Estate and other units from the Treasury merged to form OGCbuying.solutions. The agency's name was changed to just Buying Solutions in April 2009. On 15 June 2010, it moved, along with its parent agency the OGC, to become part of the Efficiency and Reform Group within the Cabinet Office. Its name was changed to the Government Procurement Service (GPS) in July 2011.[2] In January 2014 the GPS merged with the procurement management from government departments to form the Crown Commercial Service (CCS).[3]

CCS operates as a trading fund established under the Government Trading Funds Act 1973 with offices in Liverpool, Norwich, Newport, Leeds and London.[4]

CCS provides professional procurement services to the public sector to enable organisations to deliver improved value for money in their commercial activities and provide professional support when it matters, advising on technical issues, energy-saving and environmental improvements.

CCS's operations break down into framework agreements, which are a set of pre-tendered with a range of suppliers from which public sector customers can purchase goods and services. A small commission (typically less than 1%) is collected from the suppliers for each sale they make under these frameworks agreements.

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