Catalogue description Records of The Buying Agency

The Buying Agency is a central purchasing agency for a range of engineering, building, maintenance and domestic products and services for public sector clients including government departments, the National Health Service, the armed forces, universities and local authorities. Its operations cover a wide range of services but the primary role of the agency is to enable publicly funded bodies to obtain value for money, quality equipment and services.

Prior to the establishment of the Department of the Environment in 1970 the procurement role of the Buying Agency was undertaken by the Supplies Division of the Ministry of Public Buildings and Works. From 1970 the duties were met by the Supplies Division of the Property Services Agency which, in 1983, was renamed the Crown Suppliers Division.

The Buying Agency, which was initially established as a division of the Crown Suppliers, evolved from the Liverpool Procurement Office of the Crown Suppliers, and was established as a trading fund on 1 April 1991 by the Buying Agency Trading Funds Order 1991 (SI 1991 No 875). On 31 October 1991 the Buying Agency became an executive agency of the Department of the Environment, sponsored by the Property Holdings Directorate.

From 1 April 1991 the agency was organised into two principal divisions:

• the Operations Division, consisting of the Catering Equipment Group, the Electro-Mechanical Services Group, the Building and Engineering Products Group, and the Accommodation Services Group; and
• the Finance and Administration Division.

The principal activity of the Buying Agency is to procure or make arrangements for the supply of a wide range of engineering, building, maintenance and domestic products or services on behalf of its clients in the public sector, including government departments, the armed services, the National Health Service, universities and local authorities.

On 1 April 2000, the Buying Agency became part of the newly established Office of Government Commerce (OGC) within HM Treasury. On 1 April 2001, the Buying Agency, the Central Computer and Telecommunications Agency, Property Advisors to the Civil Estate and other units from the Treasury merged to form OGCbuying.solutions (the agency's name was later changed in April 2009 to just Buying Solutions, and following other changes it has subsequently evolved into the Crown Commercial Service since 2014 as an executive agency and trading fund of the Cabinet Office).