NEWS
SCAPE INFORMS NATIONAL POLICY ON GOVERNMENT PROCUREMENT
he chief executive of Nottingham based procurement specialist Scape has given advice to central government’s Communities and Local Government Committee (CLG) on the value of collaborative procurement to local authorities. mark robinson, who has worked for scape since 2009, was invited to the latest meeting of the CLG where he spoke about his organisation’s aims to serve the needs of the public sector by providing it with cost effective and safe procurement routes. scape is owned by six east midlands local authorities and has to date, under mark’s leadership, achieved £200 million in savings for its public sector clients. mark has over 20 years’ experience in local government, giving him valuable insight into the pressures faced by authorities. His experience and reputation as a local government procurement expert led to him being asked by the CLG – a body which monitors the policy, administration and spending of the Department for Communities and Local Government and its associated bodies – to speak at its latest enquiry.
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The meeting took the form of an oral evidence session as part of the CLG’s enquiry into local government procurement. mark explained the value of collaborative procurement to local authorities and highlighted the value and efficiencies gained through streamlined and collaborative procurement processes. mark explained that: “Fundamental to saving public sector money is our handling of the procurement process. Public procurement isn’t as simple as picking up the phone and choosing a local contractor. Any public sector body procuring a contract are bound by EU procurement directives and typically this process will
take around six to nine months. By choosing Scape this work is already done for them. Scape has already conducted rigorous and robust procurement exercises so that clients do not have to.” The committee raised concerns that large, national procurement arrangements would take work from smaller local contractors and damage regional economies. In response, Scape was able to demonstrate the value to local supply chains that it provides. mark added: “scape ensures that our procurement arrangements actually guarantee work will be delivered locally. All of Scape’s suppliers have offices all over the UK. Unlike other framework agreements, Scape’s frameworks support local communities by making it a contractual requirement that local companies are sourced to carry out work and form the core supply chain. “Scape sets targets for local employment and more than 50 per cent of all construction orders are delivered by contractors/suppliers who are within 20 miles of the site where the building works are taking place.” mark explained to the committee the importance of a dynamic shift in local authorities’ attitudes to procurement. Recent statistics show that construction projects in the public sector finish 43 per cent over budget and 63 per cent late. to reverse this trend, mark said local government need to adopt a radical approach and take strong dynamic action to ensure local authorities can continue to operate and deliver front line services in this harsh economic environment. To view a recording of the enquiry go to:
www.parliamentlive.tv/Main/Player.aspx?meetingId=14112
“CREATING A SMALLER, GREENER MORE EFFICIENT WELSH GOVERNMENT ESTATE IS CRUCIAL IN THESE TOUGH TIMES” – JANE HUTT The Welsh Government has made good progress in reducing the size, improving the efficiency and reducing the environmental impact of its estate in the last 12 months, says Finance minister Jane Hutt.
• news • news • news • news • news • news • news • estate by 8.4%; and
3 main priorities which are: • To reduce the size of the overall estate to 25 offices by 2015;
• To increase the efficiency of the administrative offices on the estate; and
• To improve the environmental performance of the buildings on the estate – including reducing CO2
emissions by 30% by 2020.
The findings are revealed as part of the Welsh Government’s fifth ‘State of the Estate’ report, which reports on the efficiency and environmental performance of the administrative estate. It sets the background against which the estate is currently being managed with regard to targets set out in the Location Strategy Programme 2010-15. The report concentrates on
The key achievements for 2012/13 include: • a 4.34% reduction in the overall size of the Welsh Government estate – the number of office locations has reduced from 41 to 35;
• a reduction of £302,000 in the overall annual occupancy cost from the previous year;
• Space efficiency improved across the
• Further reductions in carbon, cutting CO2
by 1.1%; Finance minister, Jane Hutt
said: “We are committed to making the most effective and efficient use of the resources at our disposal during these tough times – that’s what the people of Wales expect and demand of us. “The annual State of the Estate report is a measure of how well we are managing our administrative property asset. I am delighted by the continuing progress we have made during the year toward ensuring we have an efficient, effective and sustainable estate that meets its current and projected needs. “We continue to work hard to better align our office estate to the business of government and we have pushed hard for efficiency savings –
investing where appropriate, rationalising where necessary and optimising savings through better utilisation. “On-going pressure on budgets means there can be no let up in the continuing work to better align the asset base to support Government business and push hard for efficiency savings.
www.wales.gov.uk
Public sector sustainability • Volume 3 issue 9 9
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