§ Mr. GrayTo ask the Secretary of State for Defence what savings he expects to achieve for the DECS PPP(a) as a result of changes in management practice and (b) as a result of inventory effectiveness; and what savings the DECS PPP has achieved so far. [64801]
§ Mr. IngramThe Defence Electronic Commerce Services (DECS) Public Private Partnership (PPP) provides an electronic portal and associated infrastructure through which we can do business more effectively with our industrial partners. DECS hosts software applications, each of which are contracted individually. The first service, covering e-purchasing, has already enabled the DLO's Non-Project Procurement Office to generate savings of over £350,000 and the savings for May 2002 alone were estimated to exceed £100,000 when compared to the cost of transacting business in the traditional manner. We expect further savings to be generated as the DECS applications are developed and become more widely used across the Department. However, because DECS is designed to enable the defence acquisition community to operate more effectively, savings are not broken out and attributed directly to the system itself, or to management practise or inventory effectiveness.