All councils are required to make year on year efficiency gains therefore undertaking a procurement opportunity analysis is a frequent requirement. However smaller authorities, such as district councils, do not always have the in-house capabilities to do do this themselves as their procurement spend is too small to justify a dedicated purchasing resource.
Uttlesford District Council is one such case. Uttlesford is a small district in the north of Essex with an annual third party spend of nearly £9 million delivered by just over 1,200 suppliers - Stanstead Airport is within the boundaries of this authority.
In January 2006, the Procurement Agency for Essex (PAE) commissioned SPS to carry out a review of Uttlesford District Council's procurement activities, primarily with a view to addressing value and efficiency opportunities both locally and also those that lend themselves to collaboration via the PAE across the county of Essex.
This report was produced after a presentation to senior management at the council and interviews with 18 staff who are responsible fort he delivery of day to services to the local community.The report made a total of 14 recommendations which were all accepted.
"The Opportunity Analysis which SPS undertook for Uttlesford enabled us to better understand our spend and prioritise the areas we needed to look at in our review of strategic and operational procurement. The information has been immensely invaluable to us and our partners in the process of setting up the Essex Procurement Hub."
Tracy Turner, Director of Communities, Uttlesford District Council