Treasury says procurement improvements could lead to £3bn savings by 2015

The government claims procurement improvements have saved it £1.5bn off the cost of infrastructure since March 2011.

The Treasury said the government had identified big savings, including £600m on road schemes and £400m from London Underground.

It added it was on course to hit its target of making savings of between £2bn and £3bn by 2015, by cutting the cost of public procurement by between 10-20%.

The savings were revealed in the government’s first annual report of the three year Infrastructure Cost Review programme led by Infrastructure UK.

Lord Sassoon, commercial secretary to the Treasury, said: “What is particularly encouraging is that these savings are being delivered through close and fruitful co-operation between the public and private sectors.”