Leading UK e-commerce company Banner Business Supplies said Friday it will
provide an electronic catalog for the UK government’s secure intranet using the Infobank InTradeT e-procurement system.
Banner Business Supplies, which boasts more than 400 suppliers and thousands of
customers, will be the first company to showcase products via catalog on
the GSI when the e-procurement system goes live at the end of this year.
The system will enable Banner to offer a “shopping cart” presentation to
buyers, as well as the ability for items to be ordered and tracked online.
The catalog may be accessed two ways — through the Net with security codes
for users and through the GSI. Banner will option the e-procurement system
with purchase card processing and backend transaction processing.
“Years of devolution have fragmented the government’s purchasing power,”
said Graham Sadd, Infobank’s chief financial officer.
“Innovative companies like Banner understand the tremendous cost and
productivity savings to be gained with e-procurement, and are the first to provide a commercial online procurement option over the GSI for government purchasers.
The GSI deal hatched out of the UK’s pledge to handle 95 percent of government routine purchases electronically by 2001.