"The majority of purchases still happen with purchasing pads, pen, paper, and email - all of that still exists. Part of our job is to try and move as much of that as we can to zero touch and electronic as possible."

He added: "Let's not lose sight of the fact that there's much more to do, let's not get complacent about it."

Procserve approaches this challenge by issuing a new release of the system every quarter, which aims to make procurement simpler and improve the visibility and management of information. It makes changes based on feedback from workshops and surgeries with both buyers and suppliers.

, all upcoming Government Procurement Service ICT procurements have been put on hold pending the outcome of an internal review to assess the effectiveness of the current framework approach.