YPO, Amazon Business to build public sector procurement framework

Publicly owned by a consortium of 13 local authorities, the Yorkshire Purchasing Organisation provides goods and services to public sector bodies including schools, local authorities, charities, emergency services, as well as businesses including care homes and nurseries.

According to YPO, eight in 10 of its customers already purchase using Amazon, using the digital marketplace for ad-hoc spending that falls below EU thresholds, however, there has been no framework that exists to accommodate this spend compliantly.

Worth GBP 400 million, the new four-year agreement between YPO and Amazon Business marks the first-time public-sector bodies will have a compliant purchasing route when buying from the world’s leading digital marketplace.

A key difference between Amazon’s normal B2C platform and its B2B platform is access to a credit facility. According to YPO’s user guide, customers will be provided with a credit facility if they apply to ‘Pay on Invoice’, based on their organisation’s credit rating.