New Purchase and Pay Innovation to Drive Government Procurement

New Purchase and Pay Innovation to Drive Government Procurement

6 March 2012, London, UKMasterCard, ProcServe and Invapay have announced a new initiative to deliver an innovative Purchase and Pay solution to underpin the government’s drive towards efficiency in its procurement process. The development will serve as a significant boost for UK business, helping to deliver the government’s goal of opening up procurement to a broader group of suppliers – including an increasing number of SMEs – and optimising prompt payment to suppliers.

For the first time, the system for public procurement will combine the speed of purchase cards and electronic procurement with the robustness of fully detailed purchase orders to deliver a fast, secure, efficient and fully transparent purchasing process.

Hany Fam, President of MasterCard UK & Ireland, commented: “The launch of Purchase and Pay demonstrates how MasterCard’s innovations play a key role helping to deliver efficiencies to the public sector, while the inclusion of MasterCard Purchase Control in the process will bring a robust solution to support the government’s efforts towards creating greater transparency in public services. As a global technology company at the heart of commerce, we are committed to helping the UK drive economic growth and are delighted to be providing innovative solutions to bring SMEs closer to government contracts and make business between the two more efficient.”

Nick Morris, Director of e-Enablement & e-Procurement, Government Procurement Service, said: “Purchase and Pay dovetails with Government’s drive to make more of its business attractive to a wider group of suppliers, particularly small and medium sized enterprises. It is simple for them to participate and they can be confident that settlement of their invoices will be arranged within hours of supplying their goods and services. This initiative represents a huge step forward in closing the efficiency loop using eCommerce. Government can also be satisfied that it is in control of what is being spent, by whom and on what, as it happens. This is a very good example of exploiting existing capability to optimise the purchasing process to deliver greater efficiency and transparency. I fully expect public sector buyers and suppliers will want to take advantage of this innovation.”

Nigel Clifford, CEO of ProcServe, said: “Our unrelenting focus on creating the very best eCommerce community for buyers and suppliers has been the heartbeat of the Government eMarketplace. Since we first won the contract we have been innovating constantly to improve the experience and capabilities of our platform and partnering with MasterCard is the next chapter in that story. Purchase and Pay will provide greater transparency of public expenditure and offer a significant boost for suppliers wishing to trade with government and will appeal particularly to SMEs.”

Purchase and Pay will be available to MasterCard’s issuing banks through the Government Procurement Card Framework Contract. This new development will allow government departments, agencies and non-departmental public bodies to:

  • Gain exposure to a wider number of suppliers
  • Encourage SME suppliers into the Government marketplace
  • Make instantaneous payments through a secure electronic mechanism
  • Enhance the efficiency, transparency and accountability of public sector procurement

Purchase and Pay creates a fully integrated system employing ProcServe’s Government eMarketplace, MasterCard’s eSettlement Hub and Invapay’s Master Merchant Solutions via the government’s Gcloud portal:

1. For every supplier payment transaction, MasterCard’s Purchase Control, embedded in Purchase and Pay, provides a unique single use virtual card number with enhanced purchasing and security controls and traceability to enhance transparency. It also offers valuable management options, such as spending limits.

2. The Master Merchant Solution from Invapay will allow SMEs to accept secure electronic payments on receiving an order, whilst also delivering the line item detail data that the public sector requires for auditing requirements and transparency.



Subscribe To Our Newsletter

Subscribe To Our Newsletter

Join our mailing list to receive the latest news and updates from our team.

You have Successfully Subscribed!