Nine councils establish joint procurement body
Author: Dominic Browne, The MJ |
Nine councils in West London, serving more than two million residents, have formed a joint procurement board with the aim of achieving 16m of savings by 2015.
The new board will have strategic overview of all major purchasing, collaborative procurement and relationships with major common suppliers and will initially focus on new property projects, environmental and business services areas.
Participating boroughs include Barnet, Brent, Ealing, Harrow, Hillingdon and Hounslow. Hammersmith and Fulham LBC, and the Kensington and Chelsea RLBC and Westminster City Council – which form the existing tri-borough partnership in London – will also join the board on a project-by-project basis.
In total, the authorities involved spend around 2.3bn a year on goods and services from external suppliers.
A first meeting of the board was held in late February. It comprises representatives from each council including councillors, a council chief executive on behalf of all the chief executives and executive directors from key services.
Mary Harpley, chief executive of Hounslow LBC and programme sponsor for the West London chief executives, said: ‘This is a hugely exciting and very important initiative which I and my colleagues believe will deliver significant benefits to our residents through more effective procurement of goods and services, leading to lower costs and more productive relationships with suppliers.’
‘It’s a very timely demonstration in the current climate that local government can work collaboratively to realise efficiencies without impacting adversely on service levels and quality.’
The board will be supported by a new procurement hub based at Ealing LBC and staffed by a head of collaborative procurement and two other senior staff.
The scheme builds on the councils’ years of joint working on adults and children’s commissioning and procurement programmes through the Social Care Efficiencies Unit ? it is estimated the unit has achieved 10m of cost savings and cost avoidance, with further savings coming this financial year.