A "cyber-store" allowing goods and services common to government departments and agencies to be ordered electronically will be "on its way within six months", according to Brian Rigby, director of the Treasury’s procurement group.

The electronic shopping mall will operate on the government secure intranet (GSI) allowing end-users to compare the best of the various departments’ prices. Payment will be made electronically using the government purchasing card (GPC) and delivery will be by third-party providers. Rigby told SM: "We want to move the procurement function out of commodity buying into strategic purchasing via routes such as outsourcing and the private finance initiative. Procurement professionals will set up the framework agreements and then be redeployed to deal with more strategic issues including managing the relationship with the suppliers." Goods available in the mall will begin with commodities such as stationery and office equipment, but in the long term will cover all types of homogeneous goods and services such as fuel contracts. "We want one price for government as opposed to 20 or 30," strategic procurement adviser Jane Gibbs told SM. A few departments are likely to be used to pilot the scheme, which it is thought will be headed up by the Treasury. Phase two of its eventual roll-out will probably be aimed at getting universities, health trusts and the forces on stream. The move comes in the wake of the government’s commitment to undertake 90 per cent of transactions electronically by 2001. Purchasing cards will be the main payment mechanism. "We don’t want people paying through e-commerce by paper - that would be absurd," said Rigby. "The GPC is a potent payment instrument in an electronic environment."