Government signs £270m lease deal

Date: 10 September 2007   |   Author: Tristan Young

OGC fleet deal

State purchasing agency the Office of Government Commerce has finalised what is expected to be the UK's largest fleet deal, as exclusively reported by BusinessCar in June.

The deal is worth up to £270 million over three years and covers lease cars and vans supplied to numerous other agencies.

The deal will save significant time and money for public sector organisations because it establishes a framework that will avoid each department having to undertake their own procurement processes for leased vehicles.

An OGC spokesman said: "The 10 successful bidders for the framework were chosen on the basis of criteria such as price, quality, service and sustainability. The suppliers include Appleyard, Arnold Clark, Arval, Automotive Leasing, GE, Lex, Lloyds, Lombard, Masterlease and TCH. All the lease providers have signed a Government agreement with standard terms and conditions across the framework."

The OGC spokesman added that his agency was helped by "HM Prison Service, Hertfordshire and Surrey County Councils and the Government Car and Dispatch Agency. The framework is a major advance for car leasing within the Government. It provides the public sector with access to very competitive terms and discounts of an average of 2-3% on previous prices, with some of the most popular models being available at much greater discounts, such as the hybrid Toyota Prius. The authority leading the framework, NHS Purchasing and Supply Agency, which alone operates more than 30,000 vehicles, will save an extra 1% on top of its already very competitive lease rates through the deal".

A total of 130 organisations have expressed an interest in using the new framework, with more expected in the next few months.

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