North West Centre of Excellence

News Update

Week Ending 1st September 2006

NWCE STAKEHOLDER EVENT – ‘AHEAD OF THE GAME’ – 14^th September

THE NWCE is inviting chief executives, lead officers and members to make sure their names are on the team sheet for its stakeholder event in two week’s time.

The centre’s showcase event – Ahead of the Game – is being held at the City of Manchester Stadium on September 14 with the keynote address being delivered by Phil Woolas MP minister for local government and communities.

As well as hearing from the minister and Sue Reid, head of the modernisation and efficiency division at DCLG, the event will celebrate the way that local authorities are leading the field in making efficiencies and improvements in the delivery of services in the region. It will also highlight a range of best practice projects being delivered in the region and will provide the opportunity for members and chief executives to assess their own local authority’s game plan and how their performance can be improved.

This event is only a fortnight away – is your council attending?  If you have not already received your invitation and would like to register please click here .

SPIKES CAVELL – PURCHASE SPEND ANALYSIS ENHANCEMENTS

For those of you who have undertaken Purchase Spend Analysis with Spikes Cavell a number of improvements have been made to the Observatory as a result of feedback provided by local authorities. Most of the improvements centre around enabling authorities to easily create useful reports using the data held in the Observatory and these are outlined below:

Invoice Distribution - In the Analyse tool you will see a new folder titled ‘Invoice Distribution’ which shows the number of invoices in a variety of invoice value bands, the breakdown by Thomson category and by individual vendor. This is particularly valuable in assessing which categories and vendors are creating a potentially unnecessary administrative burden. 

“What?” Tabs - Spikes Cavell are currently working on providing explanations for all of the Observatory reports. While this work is still in progress you will notice that there are now more “What?” Tabs populated, particularly in the Methodology, Key Indicators and Risk Assessment folders. The “What?” Tab is now only displayed when a report explanation is available.

Direct Export - There is a 30,000 row limit when exporting data from the Observatory. You will now be offered the option to export directly to Excel and if the export exceeds the Excel row limit, the data will be split across multiple Excel sheets. Your exported files can also be accessed from the Tools menu under ‘My Exports’. 

Export warnings on the data grids - An information box is now visible when exporting data from the Observatory as a reminder of the data licence restrictions beyond the Observatory subscription period. 

Should you have any questions or require further explanation with regard to this latest release, please do not hesitate to contact Spikes Cavell directly. Spikes Cavell are happy to offer assistance over the phone and are also keen for authorities to continue to provide feedback – please keep it coming!

Call Spikes Cavell on 0870 321 5982 or contact by email.  

Also, don’t miss the purchase spend analysis workshop at our “Bargain Hunt” event on  the 3rd October and the PSA workshops being held across the north west during September and October – see events section.

TENDER COSTS AND PROCESS

The NWCE is looking to collate any information that councils have produced around the costs in running a tender process and the steps involved. If you have done any process mapping or costing around the tender process and would be willing to share please email details to Neil Hind

STRATEGIC PARTNERSHIP ARRANGEMENTS FOR REDEVELOPMENT OF SOCIAL AND PRIVATE HOUSING

Has your authority entered into a strategic partnership arrangement for redevelopment of social and private housing across an area larger than an individual housing scheme or estate?

A north east local authority is considering doing this to address an issue with low-demand housing and is looking for advice from another LA who has already been through a similar process.

If you are able to help can you please send your contact details to Julie Brown -  JulieTBrown@gateshead.gov.uk - Programme Manager, North East Centre of Excellence or telephone 0191 433 2693.

4PS GATEWAY REVIEW TRAINING

The Gateway Review training events have been extremely successful with every venue being fully booked and feedback has been extremely positive.  The NWCE is therefore considering hosting one further Gateway Review training session at a date to be decided.  Many people were interested in attending but were unable to do so, particularly as the events coincided with the holiday season.  If you would be interested in attending please contact Bev Brooks at NWCE as soon as possible.

PERFORMANCE MANAGEMENT SURVEY

The NWCE and NWeGG are supporting esd-toolkit in an initiative looking at performance management within the North West region. To understand the role of performance management and how data is managed we are looking for those responsible for this area to complete a short questionnaire that should take no more than 2 minutes to complete.

We would therefore appreciate it if you could forward this message to whoever looks after performance management within your organization.

Link to survey: http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.asp?u=819802509379

ENERGY PROCUREMENT – THE BENEFITS OF THE OGC.BUYINGSOLUTIONS FRAMEWORK

Please download a comprehensive overview of the offering from OGC.BuyingSolutions.  This document aims to provide an ‘easy to digest’ overview of OGCbuying.solutions’ approach to Energy procurement and the benefits and savings that can be generated.   The prime areas for savings are:

 

·         Cost effective, EU compliant route which removes the need for traditional tendering, with the associated costs

·         Aggregation of volumes allowing:

-          procurement in the wholesale market for gas and electricity

-          combining with the MOD volumes for Liquid Fuels

·         Dedicated customer service including access to Energy expertise

·         Ease of achievement of government energy targets

·         Comprehensive Supplier Management

Please contact the NWCE if you require any further details

Esd-Toolkit Take 5 newsletter – August 2006

Download the August 2006 edition of the ESD Toolkit newsletter “Take 5”.

the national procurement strategy two years on -

consolidating progress… becoming more efficient – august 2006

The purpose of the report published by the DCLG is to take stock of progress in the second year of the National Procurement Strategy (2005). It is underpinned by results of the evaluation of the Local Government Procurement Agenda, undertaken by INLOGOV at the University of Birmingham. The report also provides an update on current developments on policies, initiatives and programmes that have a particularly close relationship with the NPS. The strategy draws attention to the

key role of the RCE’s as change agents for local authorities.

Download the full document

ONLINE MARKETPLACE ZANZIBAR GETS FIRST NHS TRUST CUSTOMER

St. Mary’s NHS Trust in Paddington has become the first in a consortium of 17 NHS Trusts to connect to its suppliers via the Zanzibar Managed Service and to realise the benefits of OGCbuying.solutions’ online procurement marketplace, including estimated savings of over £4 million pounds over five years.  For further information click here.

EVENTS

NWCE ANNUAL STAKEHOLDER EVENT

“AHEAD OF THE GAME”

14 SEPTEMBER 2006 – MANCHESTER CITY FOOTBALL STADIUM

THE NWCE is inviting chief executives, lead officers and members to make sure their names are on the team sheet for its stakeholder event in two week’s time.

The centre’s showcase event – Ahead of the Game – is being held at the City of Manchester Stadium on September 14 with the keynote address being delivered by Phil Woolas MP.

The event will celebrate the way that local authorities are leading the field in making efficiencies and improvements in the delivery of services in the region. It will also highlight a range of best practice projects being delivered in the region and will provide the opportunity for members and chief executives to assess their own local authority’s game plan and how their performance can be improved.

To book your seat at the event click here .

BARGAIN HUNT

Have you made your bid to attend the NWCE Bargain Hunt yet?

The NWCE has identified savings opportunities of more than £100 million for local authorities in the region, covering everything from energy and contract commissioning to online recruitment and postal services.

On October 3, 2006 the Bargain Hunt will reveal how these savings opportunities can be realised.

The event is aimed chiefly at finance directors, chief executives, members and procurement officers and there will be a series of workshops on a wide range of topics.

To book your place contact Rebecca McDevitt on 0161 342 4080.

MAKING THE MOST OF PURCHASE SPEND ANALYSIS DATA

The North West Centre of Excellence is running a series of one day workshops on making the most of the Purchase Spend Analysis data that the majority councils have collated. These workshops will be completely subsidised by NWCE and as such will be completely FREE to you all.

The workshops provide a great opportunity for Local Authorities to gain the tools needed to make the most of Purchase Spend Analysis. The skills and knowledge you will walk away with will enable your authority to use the expenditure data effectively to help support future planning, to achieve efficiency and cashable savings and to identifying areas where collaborative working is likely to deliver the best results.  One workshop will be held in each sub-region of the North West throughout September and October. The following workshops have been arranged so far:

·         Tues 19 September – Cumbria

·         Wed 20 September – Greater Manchester

·         Tues 11 October - Cheshire

Attendance for the workshops is strictly set at 16 people from the region the event is being held in. As such places are limited to 2 members of each council.  Download a short two page summary of the workshops, providing details of the contents and format of the day.  If you wish to sign up for this event then please email Rebecca McDevitt at NWCE as soon as possible to avoid disappointment as places will fill up fast.

NWEGG ANNUAL CONFERENCE - 7 NOVEMBER 2006

An exciting agenda has been put together for this event, including keynote addresses from the Implementation Plan’s architect, the Head of the Prime Minister’s Delivery Unit, Ian Watmore, and John Suffolk, the new Government CIO, who will be outlining his vision and plans for the future.  Please see the attached brochure for a full outline of the day’s plenary and seminar sessions or visit our website at www.govnet.co.uk/nwegg

During the afternoon, Sir David Varney is speaking on Transforming the Delivery of Public Services and Peter Ryder, President of SOCITM will be delivering a paper on how to Harness technology for transformational change and efficiency gains. Kate Silver, Implementation Manager, Government IT Profession at the Cabinet Office, will provide critical insights into Developing IT Professionalism and Skills and complimenting the plenary programme will be a series of workshop sessions including: Multi-agency Information Sharing; Government Connect; Tackling Social Exclusion; Putting the Customer First; and Joining up Services across Organisations.

Supply2.gov.uk Roadshows

Supply2.gov.uk is a dynamic new government-backed service designed specifically to give companies easy access to lower-value contract opportunities (typically worth under £100,000) offered by the public sector. 

This portal brings buyers and suppliers together for the first time and is the first portal of call for lower-value business opportunities. The European Commission has uniquely recognised “supply2.gov.uk” as a best practice means of public authorities advertising lower value contracts to businesses in their Commission Interpretative Communication report.

Supply2.gov.uk is conducting a national schedule of roadshows, where organisations can find out more about the benefits this exciting new service can offer. Places are free of charge.

View the flyers for these roadshows via these links – flyer for buyers / flyer for suppliers, or click here for a full schedule of roadshow dates and venues and book your place.

FORTHCOMING EVENTS CALENDAR