To Update Members on the Activity of the Centre of Excellence East

REGIONAL CENTRE

1. Purpose of report

To update members on the activity of the Centre of Excellence East.

2.Background

Centres of Excellence were set up in 2004 for the adoption of best practice in procurement through achievement of the NPS (National Procurement Strategy). This should result in greater efficiencies which are closely linked to the procurement of commodity goods and services workstream identified in the Gershon review.

• Procurement of commodity goods and services
• Procurement of construction and buildings
• Back office (corporate services)
• Productive time
• Transitional services

The Centres will also be expected to develop a key co-ordinating role within each region working with the key change agents and resource providers in the public, private and voluntary sectors, channelling resources to individual local authorities and groups of local authorities in support of agreed projects. The Business Plans of the Centres include not only the steps being taken to assist every local authority to achieve the NPS milestones, but also the practical steps being taken by local authorities to work together to achieve the efficient savings required.

Centres to provide financial support to specific projects involving improvement and/or collaborative working between authorities in its region which will contribute towards the efficiency savings target.

When the Centres were set up there were some concerns that they might provide competition for well established purchasing organisations such as HBS. The Centres Business Plan and its actions show this is not the objective.

3.Progress

1.NATIONAL DEVELOPMENT

1.1Steering Groups

National Steering Groups were set up to cover the workstreams outlined in the ODPM’s publication “Delivering Efficiencies in Local Services”. The Centre of Excellence East leads on three workstreams: Commodities, goods and services, Environmental services and Culture and sports and aims to establish with civil central government the key priorities in each workstream to maximise efficiency gain and improve services.

1.1.1Commodities, Goods and Services Steering Group

This group has met twice this year and a Strategic Delivery Plan has been drawn up and approved by the Chief Executives Taskforce. The plan outlines four strategic priorities:

a.To maximise the use of e-Procurement by local authorities with a particular focus on the adoption of e-Marketplaces and the use of e-Auctions.

b.To optimise the procurement architecture to enable local authorities to access the best deals at national, regional and local level.

c.To optimise the effectiveness of supply markets in which local authorities are active through the most effective use of purchasing power.

d.To facilitate and support research to identify those commodities best procured at national, regional and sub-regional level.

A further strategic priority on sustainable procurement is currently being worked on along with DeFRA.

1.1.2Environmental Services Steering Group

The Environmental Service Group has also drawn up a Strategic Delivery Plan which has been agreed by the Chief Executives Taskforce.

An OGC team is now assisting Defra in tackling the Municipal Waste Services market. The first step is to get a better understanding of the procurement of municipal waste management services and current and future demand for projects or contracts, and a survey of all local authorities in England has been commissioned. Information from the survey will enable robust proposals for better management of the municipal waste sector to be defined.

1.1.3Culture and Sport

The Strategic Delivery Plan relates mainly to efficiency savings in libraries services.

1.1.4GC2005 EXPO

The 9 Regional Centres of Excellence exhibited at the recently held GC2005 EXPO. This was a very successful event and many useful contacts with businesses, government departments and local authorities were made.

2.REGIONAL DEVELOPMENTS

2.1Bid Assessment

17 bids for funding, totalling £1.7 million from partnerships in the region have been receivedand have been sent to an independent assessor for scoring.

These bids are based on projects covering various local authority services such as care services for adults and children, highways procurement and community meals provision.

2.2Bids from the Centre

The Centre has also submitted bids for funding projects and studies and these will undergo the same assessment process as bids received from elsewhere.

These include:

• Regional Revenues and Benefits Study
• Open Forum on Asset Management
• Regional Study on Planning Services
• Roll out of Regional e-Marketplace solution
• Sub-Regional Procurement Partnerships Model
• Development of e-Auction Hub
• Regional Contract Database
• Supplier Spend Analysis
• Legal Services – collaborative working

2.3External Funding

The Centre has had some success in securing additional funding from Office of Government Commerce for e-auctions and the Centre is in discussion with HM Treasury seeking Central Government funding for the regional Revenues and Benefits Study.

2.4Achievements

2.4.1Sub-Regional Procurement Partnerships

ManyCouncils in the region have suffered through lack of capacity and expertise in procurement, thereby missing out on the best deals available. The Centre is addressing this issue through the establishment of Procurement Partnerships covering all authorities in the region.

The Centre will be providing assistance to all groups in the production of a 24 month business plan/roadmap of activity.

The Centre is also facilitating workshops on the National Procurement Strategy in both Norfolk and Bedfordshire and is offering to do the same for all the other groups if required.

A sustainable procurement architecture is being formulated by the Centre in the County areas through to an equally sustainable regional group. This architecture will complement any agreed National procurement architecture being agreed through the work of the National Commodities Steering Group which is led by the Centre in the East.

2.4.2E-Market Place

E-Marketplaces access key deals through suppliers on line. This addresses e-Government targets and ensures good deals for commonly bought goods. Marketplaces help to eradicate rogue purchasing and provide information about procurement performance.

The Centre promotes the use of E-Marketplaces by District Councils in the region by offering to pay the 1st year’s licence fee. In Essex, 9 districts are already n board with 2 more stating their intention to do so. Suffolk have 3 districts on board with 1 intention. Norfolk has 1 on board with all others making an evaluation. Hertfordshire have submitted a bid covering 9 out of the 10 districts, with the 10th saying they would be interested at a later state and Bedfordshire have 2 districts on board. This is a significant success for the Centre.

2.4.3E-Auctions

E-Auctions enable suppliers to bid against each other in real time for contracts. By bringing together the demand for a wide range of commonly purchased items, suppliers will be keen to bid for the business. The Centre intends to set up an e-Auction Hub at East of England House. The Centre has negotiated with ESPO (Eastern Shires Purchasing Organisation) and CBC Central Buying Consortium) the two major buying consortia in the region to aggregate volumes for e-auctions. A 12 month programme of auctions is being scheduled and details will be available in August 2005. The first e-auction will be for bottled water (estimated value of £1 million) and will take place in August.

Evidence to date shows savings of well in excess of 30% achieved by using e-Auctions.

2.4.4Revenues and Benefits Study

46 out of a possible 48 District and Unitary Councils have formally committed to work in partnership, to explore efficiency gain from collaborative working/shared services. A Chief Executive Champion has been identified and a Steering Group is in place. Competitive bids to carry out the research have been received from private sector “change management” specialists and these are being evaluated. This project, is the biggest Revenues and Benefits project in England with potential for national roll out.

The aim of the study is to provide authorities in the region with choices based on a solid business case which will both improve performance and secure substantial efficiency.

2.4.5Asset Management Event Planned

The Centre plans to lead an “Open Forum” in September this year to identify options for innovative service improvements and efficiency gains in the strategic management of LA owned assets.

2.4.6Document Delivery

The Centre in the East is in discussion with an ODPM supported private sector organisation exploring potential for a regional pilot. Initial indications suggest there is a potential for 20%+ efficiency savings through innovative/collaborative working in particular with regard to high volume documents including council tax demands etc.

2.5Communications Strategy

The Centre has put together a matrix of Communications Teams throughout all the eastern local authorities. This will provide access to existing County, Unitary and District Councils’ communication activities to raise awareness of the Centre’s work with Officers and Members.

The Centre will publish six Newsletters a year, which will all be available on the website. Visitors to the website can now receive automatic updates whenever new information is added. The number of visitors to the site has risen steeply from 200 a month in January to 2,800 in June of this year.

1. The Centre recently agreed funding to support a number of projects led by local authorities and the Centre itself. Approximately £1.5m of a total government financed budget of £2.xm has committed to 14 projects. Three of these are led by Hertfordshire and attracted almost £370K of support.

Hertfordshire Market place

Care Costing and purchasing

Community deals provision

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