Archived decisions

HAMPSHIRE COUNTY COUNCIL

Decision Report

1. Executive Summary

1.1. The purpose of this paper is to seek approval for the final draft of the updated Corporate Procurement Strategy for the County Council and its associated procurement improvement plans.

1.2. The draft document is the third generation of the Corporate Procurement Strategy with earlier versions being adopted in 2003 and 2006. The preparation and approval of such a strategy is not a statutory requirement, but it is widely accepted as an indicator of good practice.

1.3. Effective procurement is central to the delivery of cost-effective and quality services by the County Council. Substantial improvements have been achieved during the lifetime of the previous strategies and the action plan associated with this new Corporate Procurement Strategy will be key to the ongoing work of the Members' Efficiency Panel and the Corporate Efficiency Board.

2. Contextual information

2.1. The County Council published its first Corporate Procurement Strategy in September 2003 at a time when the national public procurement agenda was just starting to develop. The Strategy contained ten objectives and was supported by over 160 actions. The majority of the actions were completed successfully and enabled the County Council to achieve many of the requirements of the National Procurement Strategy for Local Government (NPSLG), to address the procurement elements of the Comprehensive Performance Assessment and to add value through the procurement process.

2.2. The County Council published its second Corporate Procurement Strategy in September 2006. This document focused on a smaller number of objectives and key outcomes in the following areas:

· Providing leadership and building capacity

· Partnering in construction and service delivery

· Promoting collaboration and use of trading powers

· Stimulating markets and achieving community benefits

· Doing business electronically

2.3. Progress on the action plan that is linked to the Strategy is monitored by the Corporate Procurement Network and is reported to the Executive Member for Policy and Resources via the Buildings, Land and Procurement Panel. The last report to the Panel in January 2009 addressed these improvement plans, but it was also recognised that the 2006 Strategy was reaching the end of its useful life and would be revised once the Corporate Services Review of Procurement had been completed.

3. Recent procurement achievements

3.1. Outcomes resulting from the 2006 Strategy have been reported to Members through the Buildings, Land and Procurement Panel. Some of the improvements and achievements over the last three years are summarised below.

· Over 1,000 places have been filled at internal procurement awareness and training sessions for staff.

· Publication in October 2008 of a Best Practice Guide to Procurement on the corporate procurement website (jointly published by Corporate Procurement and County Supplies and Legal Services).

· Corporate Management Team has agreed the adoption of a `Gateway Review' process for all contracts with a value over £1m, which was implemented during September 2009.

· A suite of corporate Key Performance Indicators for procurement has been developed and is monitored regularly.

· Use of Improvement and Efficiency South East (IESE) Business Portal and Hantsweb for tendering opportunities, in addition to more traditional methods of advertisement.

· Over 100 tenders have been conducted electronically through our corporate electronic tendering system (known as `In-Tend').

· Adoption of Government Procurement Card (GPC) for transactions with the main supplier to school kitchens, which has removed over 15,000 paper invoices from the purchase to pay process and commencement of a GPC pilot with 16 schools.

· Increased ad hoc support from Corporate Procurement and County Supplies for contracts in Adult Services and Children's Services.

· Successful upgrade of the electronic catalogue of goods and services within the corporate SAP system.

· Strong support for the collaborative agenda and active participation in the Hampshire and Isle of Wight Procurement Partnership. Collaborative contracts with other public sector bodies and consortia extending beyond the Central Buying Consortium (for example the current temporary workers contract involves West Sussex County Council, Hampshire Constabulary, Hampshire Fire and Rescue Service and Winchester City Council) and regular dialogue with the Department for Children, Schools and Families (DSCF) and the Office of Government Commerce (OGC) relating to the national procurement `landscape'.

· Cashable savings identified for County Council departments from corporate common-use contracts and some specific contracts let by Corporate Procurement and County Supplies (CPCS) on behalf of departments have exceeded £0.5million in each of the last three years. These efficiency savings came on top of adjustments to base budgets in 2004/5 and 2005/6 which have delivered a cumulative saving of more than £6 million.

3.2. A corporate procurement review programme was started in 2006/07 and has identified a number of areas for improvement and savings. Examples of the projects include:

· Home to School Taxi Services - North East Hampshire pilot

· Domiciliary Care procurement cards

· Domiciliary Care (New Forest pilot)

· Adult Services Contracts Forward Plan

· Vehicle Procurement and Leasing

3.3. Corporate Procurement and County Supplies have also provided an extended procurement advice or support (tendering and contracting) service to departments. Recent projects have included:

· Welcome Home Schemes (Adult Services)

· Appropriate Adults (Wessex Youth Offending Team)

· Young People's Substance Misuse Service (Drug and Alcohol Action Team, Adult Services)

· `Aiming High' - Services for Children with Disabilities (Children's Services)

· Vehicle Parts (Hampshire Transport Management in partnership with Hampshire Fire and Rescue Service)

· Phase 3 Sure Start Children's Centres (Children's Services).

4. Revised Corporate Procurement Strategy

4.1. The draft revised Corporate Procurement Strategy is included in Annex A. The Strategy has been developed in consultation with the Corporate Procurement Network which contains representatives from each department. A consultation draft has been shared with appropriate departmental staff and corporate advisers and a process of focused consultation with external representatives such as the Federation of Small Businesses and the voluntary and community sector has also been undertaken. A key change is that the revised Strategy reflects the recommendations of the Corporate Services Review of Procurement as agreed by Cabinet on 30 March 2009. It also recognises the importance of building on our sustainable procurement performance and making a full contribution to the Council's efficiency programme.

4.2. The aim of the Strategy is to provide a `step-change' in performance, which builds on the achievements over the last few years and yet helps us to achieve our ambition for procurement, which is to be recognised as a leading exponent of innovative, sustainable and modern procurement practice, whilst striving for continuous improvement in our performance.

4.3. This Strategy and its associated improvement plans are expected to deliver:

· a more strategic and systematic approach to procurement

· corporate management of performance and improvement priorities

· enhanced compliance with relevant policies and procedures

· procurement efficiencies and cost reductions of around £10 million by the end of 2013/14

· improvement in our sustainable procurement performance in accordance with the Sustainable Procurement Task Force's Flexible Framework and the Aalborg Commitments

· an increase in the proportion of spend that is recorded against contracted and approved suppliers.

4.4 The Strategy reflects the fact that improvement in procurement practice will be underpinned by the following principles:

· a centre-led approach to strategic sourcing and category management

· stronger central leadership and performance management

· focus procurement activity through procurement professionals and develop a `licensed practitioner' programme which continues to enhance skills and performance

· development of new strategies and approaches to deliver reductions in procurement and process costs

· further extend collaboration with other public bodies locally, regionally and nationally.

4.5 The improvement plans are expected to run until the end of 2010/11 at which time they will be reviewed. The Corporate Procurement Network will monitor progress against the improvement plans and regular updates will continue to be provided to the Buildings, Land and Procurement Panel.

5. Recommendation

5.1. That Cabinet approves the revised Corporate Procurement Strategy.

CORPORATE OR LEGAL INFORMATION:

Links to the Corporate Strategy

Other Significant Links

IMPACT ASSESSMENTS:

1. Equalities Impact Assessment:

1.1. Equality impact assessment has been considered in the development of this report and in the development of the revised Corporate Procurement Strategy and no adverse impact has been identified and the revised Corporate Procurement Strategy aims to improve the equalities performance of external suppliers where appropriate.

2. Impact on Crime and Disorder:

2.1. The revised Corporate Procurement Strategy recognises that Community cohesion, safety and security is a key part of the County Council's corporate priorities. The Strategy aims to continue to identify where procurement can ensure that appropriate contracts include provisions for crime and disorder reduction and that procurement arrangements do not have an adverse impact on community safety issues.

3. Climate Change:

a) How does what is being proposed impact on our carbon footprint / energy consumption?

The revised Corporate Procurement Strategy does not have a direct impact on our carbon footprint / energy consumption, but it aims to improve the County Council's performance on sustainable procurement.

b) How does what is being proposed consider the need to adapt to climate change, and be resilient to its longer term impacts?

No impact identified.

DRAFT

Corporate Procurement Strategy

Foreword

The County Council's ambition for procurement is to be recognised as a leading exponent of innovative, sustainable and modern procurement practice, whilst striving for continuous improvement in our performance.

This Corporate Procurement Strategy sets the framework in which the County Council will work to ensure that procurement delivers value for money across all services and directly contributes to the achievement of our corporate priorities and the outcomes within the Hampshire Sustainable Community Strategy.

It is recognised that the procurement of goods, works and services has a major impact on many aspects of life in Hampshire, including the environment, social factors and local economic development, which is reflected in the procurement policy, practice and improvement targets.

This Strategy has been endorsed by the Corporate Management Team (CMT) and the Cabinet and is supported by a two-year improvement plan. Performance will be monitored against the improvement plan using the performance management framework `Driving Success'.

The County Council is also leading on the Construction work stream on behalf of Improvement and Efficiency South East (IESE) and continues to participate actively in collaborative procurement opportunities in all areas of procurement both nationally, regionally and locally.

This Procurement Strategy is an ambitious programme of improvement, which sets high standards for all County Councillors, managers and staff across the County Council.

1. Introduction

1.1 It is recognised that effective procurement arrangements are fundamental to achieving organisational success for the County Council and in delivering our corporate priorities and contributing to the outcomes within the Hampshire Sustainable Community Strategy.

1.2 This strategy is supported by a two-year improvement plan to drive further improvement in procurement performance.

1.3 Procurement is defined as `the process of acquiring goods, works and services, covering both acquisition from third parties and from in-house providers. The process spans the whole cycle from identification of needs, through to the end of a services contract or the end of the useful life of an asset. It involves option appraisal and the critical "make or buy" decision which may result in the provision of services in-house in appropriate circumstances.'¹

1.4 The County Council is mindful that the impact of procurement is far greater than this definition of a `process' and our vision, objectives and principles as set out in this Strategy illustrate the contribution that effective procurement arrangements can make to a wide range of socio-economic agendas. These include equality and diversity, a successful local economy, a thriving voluntary sector, community empowerment, environmental issues and value for money.

2. Our vision for procurement

2.1 In recognition of the wider impact that procurement strategy, policy and practice has on the outcomes achieved by the County Council, our vision for procurement is:

To support the delivery of innovative, cost-effective and quality services in fulfilment of the County Council's corporate priorities and the Hampshire Sustainable Community Strategy, through a strategic and systematic approach to procurement.

3. Our procurement objectives

3.1 The objectives of this strategy and its associated improvement plan are to:

· Develop a category management approach to procurement across the organisation.

· Deliver a common, corporate process of strategic sourcing, supplier relationship development and contract management.

· Drive out efficiencies and cost reduction in the procurement process.

· Enhance leadership, governance and skills within procurement.

· Ensure compliance with relevant policies and procedures.

· Increase the proportion of spend against contracted and approved suppliers.

4. Our procurement principles

4.1 Our procurement principles are:

· All procurement activity supports our corporate priorities and the outcomes within the Hampshire Sustainable Community Strategy.

· A commitment to strategic, effective, consistent and co-ordinated procurement, which recognises and reflects local circumstances.

· Promote and deliver sustainability, local economic development and equality and diversity objectives through procurement activities.

· Engage with relevant stakeholders and service users to ensure that needs analysis and design of specifications reflects community requirements and recognises the contribution of existing local services.

· Maximise procurement collaboration with other public bodies and partnering arrangements with suppliers.

· Enhance our commissioning and procurement relationship with the voluntary and community sector (`Voluntary Sector').

· Contribute to value for money and the effective use of resources as assessed by the Comprehensive Area Assessment.

· Measure procurement performance and promote continuous improvement.

· Procurement is undertaken by suitably skilled and experienced staff.

· All procurement is operated in a legal and professional manner with the highest standards of probity, transparency, openness, accountability and fairness.

· Encourage a varied and competitive supply market.

· Ensure an efficient procurement process through maximising the use of electronic procurement (`e-procurement').

· Ensure that commissioning and procurement decision-making, including options appraisal, is transparent, accessible and consultative.

5. Scale of procurement activity

5.1 The County Council spends in excess of £643 million per annum (both revenue and capital) on the external provision of goods, works and services². The current portfolio of procurement activity is shown below. Portfolio analysis categorises procurement spend on a risk and value matrix, which assists with determining the most appropriate procurement strategy.

5.2 The County Council has over 1,000 contracts with external organisations in operation at any one time. The contracts register and forthcoming tendering opportunities are publicly available on our Procurement - Business Opportunities⁷ web pages.

5.3 School governing bodies are able to determine their own arrangements for the purchase of goods, works and services and therefore this strategy focuses on meeting the requirements of our departments, rather than schools. However, corporate procurement arrangements for educational supplies and services are already in place and well supported and schools are able to engage with, and benefit from, our continually improving approach to procurement.

6. Sustainable procurement

6.1 It is recognised that procurement has a vital role in furthering sustainable development, through our procurement of goods, services and works. Procurement decisions have a major socio-economic and environmental implication, both locally and globally, now and for future generations. Our sustainable procurement policy supports our vision that `within a decade Hampshire will prosper without risk to our environment.' The County Council will therefore strive to:

People, education and awareness

· educate, train and encourage staff to review their consumption of goods and services, reduce usage and adopt more environmentally-friendly products.

· communicate the sustainable procurement policy to all staff, suppliers and stakeholders.

Procurement strategy, policy and process

· promote and embed best practice for sustainable procurement.

· work in partnership with other public bodies to maximise sustainable procurement gains through collaboration and information sharing.

· ensure local and small suppliers have equal access to procurement opportunities.

Environmental products

· consider the costs and benefits of environmentally-friendly goods and services, including minimising `procurement miles'.

· wherever possible and practicable, specify a requirement in line with nationally or regionally agreed minimum specifications.

· where such exact specification is not possible, enable suppliers to submit offers for environmentally-friendly alternatives.

Environmental construction, biodiversity and recycling

· meet Carbon Reduction targets and utilise the Building Research Establishment Environmental Assessment Method (BREEAM) as appropriate to work towards sustainable construction, refurbishment and maintenance.

· fulfil obligations under the Biodiversity duty as part of our Corporate Biodiversity Action Plan.

· continue to improve the levels of recycling, reduced usage, bulk delivery and better packaging.

Engaging suppliers

· communicate our sustainability objectives to our suppliers.

· encourage and persuade suppliers to adopt environmentally-friendly processes and supply environmentally-friendly goods and services as part of their Corporate Social Responsibility agenda.

· fully support the commitments contained in our Small Business Friendly Concordat and in the Commissioning and Procurement Code of the One Compact for Hampshire (in order to address barriers to small business and the voluntary and community sectors doing business with us).

· ensure that procurement processes are appropriate to the scale and risk involved so that they are not unduly onerous especially for local and small suppliers.

· continue to update and publish our contracts register, forthcoming tendering opportunities and Selling to the County Council Guide on our Procurement - Business Opportunities web pages and work with national and regional opportunities portals as appropriate.

· ensure that, where appropriate and allowable, sustainability criteria are part of the supplier evaluation process and are used in the award of contracts.

Measurements and results

· comply with all legislation relevant to sustainability.

· collaborate with other public sector bodies in support of common sustainability targets.

· assess our sustainable procurement performance through the use of the Sustainable Procurement Task Force's Flexible Framework.

· improve our sustainable procurement performance in line with the Flexible Framework and the Aalborg Commitments.

7. Promoting social equality and justice through procurement

7.1 The Single Equality Scheme shows that the County Council is committed to securing genuine equality of opportunity, whether required by law or not, in all aspects of our activities as an employer, service provider and provider. It is recognised that passive policies will not reverse discrimination and disadvantage and therefore the County Council will actively seek to redress unfair discrimination against disadvantaged people to ensure equality of opportunity.

7.2 The County Council has an opportunity to influence the equality agenda with suppliers through our procurement processes. The County Council will actively engage with the requirements of the proposed Equality Duty for public procurement once it has been enacted. In the meantime, the County Council are committed to ensuring that major suppliers and contractors share our equality and diversity vision and values, and work to implement these. To achieve this, the County Council will:

· Ensure our appointed contractors share, and help deliver, our equality objectives

· Provide templates, guidance and training on equalities for procurement staff

· Develop pragmatic ways to monitor the equality performance of our key suppliers and provide assistance where required.

7.3 Community cohesion, safety and security is a key part of our corporate priorities and the County Council will continue to identify where procurement can ensure that appropriate contracts include provisions for crime and disorder reduction and that procurement arrangements do not have an adverse impact on community safety issues.

7.4 The County Council will continue to ensure that effective health and safety mechanisms are in place through our procurement practice and our suppliers.

7.5 The County Council will ensure compliance with the code of practice on handling workforce matters in contracts.

8. e-Procurement Policy

8.1 The County Council recognises the importance of electronic procurement (e-procurement) in delivering lower transaction costs for both us and our suppliers, reducing off-contract spend and minimising paperwork, thereby providing efficiencies and environmental benefits.

8.2 Our electronic purchase to pay process is through our corporate SAP system. Complementary solutions to assist with increasing our use of e-procurement tools will also be considered if a proven business case has been developed. Appropriate staff have access to the electronic catalogue of goods and services (known as `SRM') which enables the electronic generation, workflow and authorisation of purchase orders from contracted or approved suppliers.

8.3 The electronic catalogue (SRM) in SAP is used for all ordering, except where, in exceptional circumstances, access to the Core R/3 system in SAP has been approved by the Corporate Procurement Network. Where a non-SAP system has been approved for a part, or the whole, of the procurement cycle, appropriate interfaces to SAP and its e-procurement facilities must be developed to assist in providing corporate procurement management information and a consistent and corporate approach to e-procurement.

8.4 Electronic tendering is currently being rolled out to all procurement teams and, once this is completed, this will be the standard tendering process for all of our tenders

8.5 Whilst all suppliers will be encouraged to work with us electronically, it is recognised that some suppliers, particularly small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and `Voluntary Sector' suppliers, may not have the capabilities at this time to adopt e-procurement and we will ensure that such suppliers are not disadvantaged in the procurement process.

8.6 Purchasing cards in all their forms (embedded, physical and pre-loaded) will be used where appropriate, subject to approval by the County Treasurer and the Corporate Procurement Network, to reduce transaction costs particularly for high volume, low value and ad-hoc purchases.

8.7 All contracts over £25,000 will be recorded in our corporate contracts register and all tenders over £25,000 will be advertised on our tendering opportunities web pages.

9. Procurement improvement

9.1 Whilst previous Corporate Procurement Strategies and associated action plans have delivered improvements in procurement performance over the last few years, the County Council continually strives for further improvement. Our Corporate Services Review of Procurement, undertaken in the first half of 2009, recognised that further changes needed to be made to the way we organise and manage procurement to maximise the contribution that procurement can make to the County Council's performance and efficiency. The Review also addressed issues around compliance that were identified in an earlier report to Cabinet and the relevant recommendations have been taken into account in the development of this strategy.

9.2 This procurement strategy and associated action plans will deliver:

· a more strategic and systematic approach to procurement.

· corporate management of performance and improvement priorities.

· procurement efficiencies and cost reduction.

· enhanced compliance with relevant policies and procedures.

· an increase in the proportion of spend that is recorded against contracted and approved suppliers.

9.3 Our procurement improvement will be underpinned by the following principles:

· a centre-led approach to strategic sourcing and category management.

· stronger central leadership and performance management.

· focus procurement activity through procurement professionals and develop a `licensed practitioner' programme which continues to enhance skills and performance.

· development of new strategies and approaches to deliver reductions in procurement and process costs.

· further extend collaboration with other public bodies locally, regionally and nationally.

· our procurement processes and risk management processes will be proportionate to the expenditure being undertaken and will recognise other corporate priorities and policies.

9.4 The County Council is also striving to improve its sustainable procurement performance in accordance with the Sustainable Procurement Task Force's Flexible Framework and the Aalborg Commitments, which is reflected in improvement action plans.

9.5 The current procurement improvement action plans are shown in Annex A.

10. Performance management

10.1 Implementation of our improvement action plans will be monitored through our performance management arrangements and overseen by the Corporate Procurement Network and the Buildings, Land and Procurement Panel.

10.2 The County Council is a member of the CIPFA Corporate Services benchmarking group, which will assist in understanding the level of our procurement performance and in identifying areas of good or poor performance relative to other public bodies. This enables the County Council to set informed targets for performance improvement. The County Council has also produced its own suite of local performance indicators for procurement which measures our performance against key targets in our improvement action plans.

11. Governance and accountabilities

11.1 The Corporate Services Review of procurement recognised that devolved service and financial planning and management has led to the involvement of a large number of staff in the procurement process. Some of these staff have very little relevant procurement experience. This situation limits our ability to deliver a more strategic, corporate, consistent and aggregated approach to procurement. This also reduces our ability to drive further performance and efficiency improvements in procurement.

11.2 Governance and accountability arrangements are therefore being revised to provide more focus and stronger leadership through a `strategic sourcing' and `category management' approach to key areas of spend.

11.3 Full centralisation of procurement and category management, outside of common-use goods and services, is not considered appropriate at this stage because effective procurement relies on service-driven commissioning in appropriate areas. Therefore some departments⁸ will be responsible for adopting a category management approach to specialist procurement arrangements for direct expenditure incurred in the provision of services. A category management approach requires centralised procurement functions in these departments, which will also ensure that procurement is led by experienced and skilled procurement practitioners. These centralised arrangements within departments are currently being implemented. This will include the formation of a single, central team within Property, Business and Regulatory Services. All category managers will have a `Head of Profession' responsibility and accountability to the Corporate Procurement Team. Table Two below identifies the category management responsibilities of departments.

Table Two: Responsibilities of departmental procurement teams

Category of Spend	Team	Department
Children and families social care and specialist services	Commissioning Co-ordination Unit	Children's Services
Adult social care	Contracts Team	Adult Services
Supporting people, drug and alcohol services	Wellbeing and Partnerships Team	Adult Services
Highways Construction and Maintenance	Engineering Consultancy / Environment Procurement Team	Environment
Waste management	Waste Management Team / Environment Procurement Team	Environment
Passenger Transport	Passenger Transport Group / Environment Procurement Team	Environment

11.4 The Director of Property Business and Regulatory Services (PBRS) is the Corporate Management Team's Procurement Champion. The PBRS Procurement Team operates as the Corporate Procurement Unit for the County Council. The team is responsible for:

· identifying aggregation opportunities and putting in place corporate arrangements for the purchase of common use goods and services (indirect supplies, including property and information and communications technology [ICT] procurement) on behalf of all departments and schools.

· Category management of common-use areas of spend including:

_ property

_ ICT

_ facilities management

_ technical, specialist and consultancy services

_ energy

· leading on procurement performance improvement and measurement, including:

_ strategic sourcing and category management processes

_ procurement strategy, policies and procedures

_ co-ordination and consistency within the procurement process

_ procurement competency framework and procurement skills development

_ the `licensed procurement practitioners' programme

_ the Procurement Gateway Review process

_ key performance indicators for procurement.

· providing a procurement advisory, support and review service to departments and individual contracts.

· delivering appropriate electronic procurement solutions.

· fostering collaboration with other public bodies.

· supporting the activities of the Central Buying Consortium (the largest such organisation in local government).

· providing the link to Improvement and Efficiency South East (IESE), other councils and central government on all procurement related matters.

11.5 Members have a key role to play in aligning procurement decisions with our corporate priorities and in monitoring procurement performance. This is achieved through the nominated Member Champion for Efficiency and Procurement and the Buildings, Land and Procurement Panel.

11.6 The Corporate Procurement Network (CPN) includes representatives from all departments and is responsible for corporate leadership of procurement activity and performance, in particular:

· developing procurement practice across all departments

· improving and reporting on procurement performance

· building more strategic and corporate procurement arrangements

· supporting knowledge and information sharing.

11.7 Consideration is being given to setting up a Procurement Board to oversee procurement improvement. Currently, the Efficiency Board is responsible for ensuring delivery of procurement efficiencies and overseeing the implementation of the procurement improvement plans.

Annex A

Procurement Improvement Action Plan 2009/10 to 2010/11

Introduction

During 2008/09 we undertook a Corporate Services Review of Procurement. The review identified a number of areas which would enable us to make a `step-change' in our procurement arrangements and would build on improvements already made as a result of previous procurement strategies.

Corporate Improvement themes

The main corporate improvement themes for all procurement teams are:

1) Strategic sourcing

· Adopt a common corporate process of strategic sourcing

· Adopt a category management approach, with nominated category managers

· Optimise procurement linkages between similar categories across the County Council.

2) Leadership and People

· Provide clear leadership, roles and responsibilities and performance management arrangements

· Enhance the competencies and skills of professional procurement practitioners.

3) Enhance compliance

· Improve visibility of procurement arrangements and forward planning

· Ensure high value supplier relationships are appropriately formalised

· Review lower value arrangements to ensure appropriate competition

· Review roles and responsibilities and training of staff involved in purchasing decisions and processes.

4) Cost reductions

· Deliver targeted reductions in procurement costs and process costs

· Increase capacity to deliver improvement projects

· Exploit `data' as `information

· Further extend collaboration with other public bodies.

5) Improve sustainable procurement performance

· Achieve level three of the sustainable procurement flexible framework in six priority categories (waste, transport, energy, construction, food and facilities management) during 2010/11.

Annex A (continued)

Specialist Departmental Procurement Improvement Actions 2009/10 to 2010/11

There are also a number of key improvement areas for some of the specialist departmental procurement teams which are:

Property Procurement Team

· Complete implementation of e-tendering and e-contracts.

· Develop a construction category management plan.

· Complete implementation of the Gateway Review process for major property construction projects.

· Ensure effective framework and long term contract management arrangements.

· Delivery and capture efficiencies and benefits through collaborative procurement arrangements.

· Development and implementation of `Regional Education Partnership' (REP) procurement model for delivery of Building Schools for the Future.

Adult Services Social Care

· Implementation of a Contract Management System to enable online payments to providers, contract management and a consistent approach to monitoring and reporting.

· Introduction of category management and the alignment of contract renewal dates to enable a review of existing block contracts.

· Introduction of framework agreements that will not only support the Hampshire Model but enable savings in terms of financial and administrative resources.

· Introduction of standardised contract documentation and working with the Voluntary Sector on evaluation and procurement processes to enable them to compete for tendering opportunities.

· Review and modernise existing contracts terms and conditions.

· Introduction of a performance management framework for Contract Support Officers.

· Assist with the implementation of Self Directed Support through piloting the use of Pre-Loaded Cards that should result in an increase in the uptake of Direct Payments.

Annex A (continued)

Procurement Improvement Action Plan 2009/10 to 2010/11

Annex A (continued)

Procurement Improvement Action Plan 2009/10 to 2010/11 (continued)

Procurement Efficiency and Cost Reduction 2010/11 to 2013/14

We have an ambitious programme of finding further efficiencies through more effective procurement practice and processes, which are expected to generate nearly £10m of savings over a four year programme. The table below shows the total savings to be delivered each year.

Sustainable Procurement Improvement Action Plan 2009/10 to 2010/11

Glossary of Terms