Technical Background Information to accompany Department for Education and its executive agencies’ spend using Government Procurement Cards (GPCs) over £500



Background information 
GPC is a Mastercard based purchasing and payments system, not a credit card. GPCs are simple to use and make the process of obtaining goods and services for low value transactions more efficient.
J.P. Morgan is the card issuer for the Department for Education (DfE). 


Key benefits
The key benefits of using GPCs are:
* Fewer invoices as card transactions are consolidated and paid centrally, with no risk of interest charges
* Electronic cardholder statements, supporting sustainability by reducing paper and resultant waste
* Access to data enables effective monitoring of spend and budgets.
The key benefits of GPCs for small and medium enterprises (SMEs) are:
* Prompt payments in line with Government initiatives
* Improved cash flow
* Reduces bad debt and late payments
* Reduced administrative costs.

Policy and procedures

Use of the GPC is governed by the DfE Government Procurement Card policy and procedures. Extensive guidance is detailed on the DfE’s intranet.

Please note that use of GPC is not permitted to purchase alternative goods or services which are available on DfE contracts.


Transparency  

In support of the Government’s Transparency Agenda, the DfE are publishing details of all transactions of £500 and over. The data published includes:
* entity
* transaction posting date
* merchant / supplier name
* transaction amount
* description of purpose
Data is published by the last working day of the following month.
Since April 2013 nil returns from the DfE’s executive agencies are included as an additional row showing £0.00 value. Prior to this, any executive agencies or arm’s length bodies with nil returns were simply excluded.

Useful Links 

All DfE GPC spend over £500: 
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications?keywords=gpc&publication_filter_option=all&topics%5B%5D=all&departments%5B%5D=department-for-education&official_document_status=all&world_locations%5B%5D=all&from_date=&to_date=&commit=Refresh+results