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Contents

 

 

 

 

    Foreword by Councillor Richard Ash

 

 

 

(1)            Introduction

 

 

 

(2)            Influences

 

 

 

(3)            Objectives of the New Strategy:

 

 

 

(a)         Sustainable Procurement

 

         

         

(b)         Making it easier for suppliers to do business with the Council

 

 

         

(c)         Developing Equality Practices within Procurement

 

 

 

(d)        Developing Shared Procurement

 

 

(4)            Contact the Procurement Team

 

 

Appendix A       Action Plan

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Foreword

 

The Council is continually working hard to provide value for money for local taxpayers. However, the quality of the service provided needs to be carefully considered when assessing expenditure.

 

The Council has been rated as one of the top 20 authorities in the country and as part of this assessment how the council uses the resources that are available, whether these be our funds, buildings or staffing resources has been measured. The council performs very strongly but we are not complacent. Increasingly more services are provided in partnership, either with other boroughs, the private sector or the third sector (which includes voluntary organisations).

 

Maidstone Borough Council is one of very few district councils in Kent that has a dedicated procurement team and the Council also undertakes a range of work for other boroughs. For Maidstone itself the Team has managed to deliver savings of £117,000 in the past year without adversely affecting service delivery.

 

In addition by taking a rigorous approach to procurement the council can also ensure that the risk of challenge (which increases due to constantly changing EU directives) is also minimised.

 

The Council is constantly looking at new ways to procure services and with the development of national frameworks this also offers a wider range of opportunities. However, this needs to be balanced against supporting the local economy and local businesses.

 

One of the examples in 2009/10 was the construction of a new depot in the borough, this  was tendered in line with the European standards but the construction stage included a range of local materials and sub-contractors.

 

Effective procurement remains a key strand of the Council’s efficiency agenda and I hope that in 2010/11 further work can be progressed on establishing a shared service across the four boroughs in Mid Kent.        

 

External pressures through reducing government grants and increasing expectations from our customers will mean that the procurement of goods and services must continue to develop and move forward to ensure value for money is obtained. Particularly if the Council is to deliver its ambitious capital programme and support the council’s key aim to promote economic development and improve the prosperity of the borough. 

 

This Procurement Strategy, together with the Action Plan, intends to build on our success in the past and supporting the Council’s vision over the next three years. The ongoing commitment of members, officers and the Council’s partners, whether public or private, will be vital if the Council is to achieve its aims.

 

Key procurement activity during the next three years will include the capital projects at the Museum, Mote Park and the High Street along with service contracts, which include refuse and recycling which is due to come into operation in 2013.

 

 

 

Cllr Richard Ash

Cabinet Member for Corporate Services

(1)             Introduction

 

This new strategy is the third Maidstone Borough Council has produced and aims to build upon the progress made within the previous two, the most recent of which was issued in April 2007.

 

The strategy will continue to retain at its core and promote its guiding principle the objective:

 

“To support the Council’s vision and obtain best value through planned and skilful procurement”.

 

 

During the past three years significant cashable and non cashable savings have been achieved and the renewal of strategically and economically important contracts for the Council have been undertaken, these include the provision of:

 

·         Management of Maidstone Leisure Centre;

·         Revised Park and Ride Bus Services;

·         New Waste Collection Services;

·         Council Building Maintenance Services;

·         Procurement of a new depot; and

·         Major improvements to the Crematorium.

 

Other significant contract renewals include the provision of:

 

·         CCTV Staff Manning Contract;

·         New Management and Maintenance of the Cobtree Golf Course;

·         Council Insurance and Banking Services;

·         Upgrading of Equipment at the Crematorium;

·         Agency Staff Management Contract; and

·         Cash Collection Services.

 

The above and other current contract arrangements can be viewed on the Contract Register contained within the procurement pages of the Councils website.

 

In addition to the specific exercises mentioned above, during this period substantial progress was made towards the main objectives of the previous strategy and this is summarised below:

 

 

Contract Management

 

The organisation of suppliers into two groups, with those carrying out work on our sites or land or providing a service/delivering a product deemed as critical to the Council are now identified as Group 1 suppliers on the contract register and are managed to ensure minimum risk of non delivery of their contracted obligations.

 

Annual “health checks” in respect of continued statutory obligations like the maintenance of effective insurance cover, monitoring for any deterioration of compliance with Health and Safety and Equalities requirements are carried out.

 

In co-operation with client departments, the Procurement Team has begun periodic Contract reviews of those contract arrangements performed by Group 1 suppliers.

 

 

It is expected to continue to build upon this work moving forward and implementing a mechanism for evaluating supplier’s ongoing environmental awareness and validating what they said that they would do, on each anniversary of the contract start date.

 

It is also intended to review the “Financial Health” of these suppliers to enable any action necessary for the Council to secure continuity of service provision.

 

 

Sustainability

 

Maidstone Borough Council has already implemented many initiatives to address the impact

it has on the environment and to assist with delivering products and services in a

sustainable manner.  These include:

 

·      Reduction of CO₂ emissions and or energy consumption by the use of a biomass

boiler for the new offices with locally purchased fuel, low wattage laptop computers, intelligent lighting, voltage optimisation, solar panels and other modern technology and a challenging ceiling on lease car CO₂ emissions.

 

·      Reduction in use of paper and other resources through the use of multi-functional printing, copying and scanning devices, electronic versions of tender documents, cooled and filtered mains drinking water, environmentally friendly or recycled office consumables, cleaning products, drinking cups and waste collection boxes.

 

·      Incentives to cycle or walk to work through the provision of showers, pool cycles 

and cycle racks.

 

·      Encouraging tenderers to submit variant bids with greater environmental benefits, incorporating sustainability assessments into tender evaluations.

 

 

Doing Business Electronically

 

Wherever our current Accounting and IT systems have permitted, progress has been made to enable key Council supply and service contracts to operate on a fully or partially electronic basis. This has resulted in a significant reduction in the number of paper based ordering and invoicing transactions leading to more efficient use of officer time and quicker payment turnaround.

 

 

Supplier Development/Procedure Review

 

We have reviewed and simplified all our tender documentation and introduced standard forms wherever possible. Considerable amendments have taken place to the template documents for pre-qualification questionnaire and invitation to tender documents to reduce their size, make them easier to understand by the companies that receive them and simpler to evaluate. Further changes to these documents are anticipated as well as the possibilities of either the creation of common procurement documents that can be used throughout Kent or the use of pre-accreditation services to make it easier for suppliers to take part in future tendering opportunities.

We have introduced clear procedures on how suppliers can do business with the Council and continuously update the Procurement area of the Council website. The introduction of a combined Kent wide set of contract procedure rules and comprehensive Purchasing guide, together with new raised financial thresholds for the obtaining of quotations for materials and services has increased the scope for the acquisition of Council requirements with the local business community. Monitoring of Council spend with businesses in the Maidstone area is one of several quarterly key performance Indicators for Procurement and is recorded within the Corporate Quarterly Performance Monitoring Report which measures progress towards a key objective within the strategic plan.

 

 

Partnership Working

 

A close working relationship with Tunbridge Wells has developed, resulting in a review of their procurement activity and the procurement of their corporate maintenance requirements.

 

Procurement work has also been undertaken for other pan Kent county groups which has not only produced savings for all the members of these groups, but has also added to the overall income earned by the Procurement Unit. The opportunities offered by the development of the Mid Kent Improvement Partnership provide further scope for procurement efficiencies and savings as evidenced by the external print Management contract that should contribute approximately £ 40,000 per annum to overall procurement savings figures.

 

In November 2009, the MKIP Board agreed a proposal to create a more formal arrangement for collaborative procurement to improve procurement efficiency. The first stage, which should be completed by May 2010, would be to develop a combined contracts register, agree a five year procurement programme, adopt agreed core policies and strategies and agree key performance indicators to measure the benefits.

 

 

Value for Money

 

Whilst important, efficient and effective public procurement is not just about delivering savings. The value that the expertise of a dedicated procurement team brings can be expressed in a number of different ways:

 

·         Ensuring compliance through specialist knowledge in an increasingly legislated area of activity;

 

·         Understanding the diversity of suppliers and maximising interest from the markets;

 

·         Stimulating and developing the local economy and ensuring environmental awareness and sustainability is at the heart of the process;

 

·         Clarifying and challenging current and future service requirements and tailoring the procurement package to get the best result; and

 

·         Streamlining and simplifying the procurement process, allowing service departments to concentrate on service delivery.

 

Notable successes over the past three years have been the procurement of the new Depot and the new offices and other major capital projects such as the upgrading of the Crematorium, procurement of the new waste collection and park and ride contracts, and improved arrangements for graphic design and printing and the employment of temporary staff.

 

Staff Development

 

The depth of experience within the procurement team continues to be developed and appreciated internally and externally. Demands for our professional input into projects reminds us of the need to update ourselves on developments within procurement best practice as well as understanding European courts and UK government based agency rulings and guidance.

 

It has been reassuring to note that the Council has continued to provide financial support for staff development and has assisted officers to achieve professional recognition through for example membership of the Chartered Institute of Purchasing and Supply.

 

 

 

(2)               Influences

 

The Council has identified five priority themes in its Strategic Plan to help deliver the vision for Maidstone in support of the Sustainable Community Strategy:

 

·         A place to achieve, prosper and thrive;

·         A place that is clean and green;

·         A place that has strong, healthy and safe communities;

·         A place to live and enjoy; and

·         A place with efficient and effective public services.

 

These provide the framework for the Council’s procurement which is further reinforced by six core values which cover the way we deliver the services:

 

·           Superb customer service

·           Teamwork

·           Responsibilty to deliver our promises

·           Integrity and high standards of Corporate Governance

·           Value for money and efficiency

·           Equality within a diverse organisation

 

The Procurement Unit has been committed to embracing the principles of the “ National Procurement Strategy for Local Government October 2003”, the Gershon Review of Public Sector Efficiency to secure continuous improvements, and it has responded for example, to the recommendations within the Byatt Report.

 

We will continue to ensure that the acquisition of materials, services and works are obtained on the basis of “value for money” not the lowest price.

 

The National Procurement Strategy for Local Government defines Procurement as:

 

“the process of acquiring goods, works and services, covering both acquisition from third parties and in house providers. The process spans the whole life 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 options appraisal and the critical “make or buy” decision which may result in the provision of services in-house in appropriate circumstances.”

 

Value for Money:

 

“choosing the bid that offers the optimum combination of whole life costs and benefits to meet the customer’s requirement. This is not the lowest initial price option and requires assessing the ongoing revenue/resource costs as well as initial capital investment. The Council’s requirement can include social, environmental and other strategic objectives and is defined at the earliest possible stage of the procurement cycle. The criterion of best value for money is used at the award stage to select the bid that best meets the requirement.”

 

The government decided to expand upon the successes provided by the Regional Centres of Procurement Excellence (RCPE) by creating the Regional Improvement and Efficiency Partnerships (RIEP) with the aim of supporting local government to deliver further efficiencies via the development of local area agreements and partnerships.

 

Regionally work has been undertaken on developing a Construction Framework which should provide opportunities for large schemes such as PFI/PPP developments. Nationally several frameworks have been developed and the Council has looked to use these wherever possible. The Council has also played a key role in the Corporate Transformation strand which includes opportunities for greater partnership working.

 

The Mid Kent Improvement Partnership (MKIP) as mentioned earlier in this document is an example of this and demonstrates how such arrangements not only work to provide improvements and efficiencies locally but is in accord with the requirements of the National Improvement and Efficiency Strategy (NIES).

 

 

Summary of Objectives

 

It is intended that this strategy continues to support the key procurement aims by pursuing the following objectives:

 

·            Continuing to be efficient, effective and responsive to individual Council service           department needs through the timely provision of advice and guidance when           evaluating potential procurement options.

 

·            While minimising risk, provide procurement resources to plan and conduct

                   timely, service  supportive  and  legally  compliant  tendering  activity where

                   necessary in response to both planned and unexpected requirements.

 

·            Working with the client department to research the supply market and take

      advantage where appropriate of legally compliant supply frameworks to take

      advantage of aggregated spend already exposed to market competition to

      provide savings and efficiencies.

 

·            Constantly reviewing the Councils expenditure to identify and provide

      opportunities for future savings and efficiencies through collaboration and

      procurement partnering arrangements with other authorities.

 

·            Continuing to analyse Council spend, identifying new opportunities for the

renewal or creation of new Corporate supplies and service contracts.

 

·            Engaging, working with and training Council officers who carry out purchasing

      activity to ensure they are informed of their responsibilities, and that guidance

      is provided by procurement to enable them to maintain compliance with the

      recently revised contract procedure rules and financial thresholds.

 

·            Continuing to monitor current practices, legislations and procedural

      developments to keep abreast of changes relevant to procurement and ensure

      that the Council is not just compliant, but is a leader amongst our peers.

 

·      While maintaining and developing strategies and policies previously put in place, the current economic, social equality and environmental issues globally as well as within the local community demand that procurement must respond in a competent and positive way that ensures Socially Responsible Procurement is at the very heart of what we do now, and in the future.

 

The following sections therefore provide the theme of this strategy, identify 4 key areas and describe progress to date and what we plan to do during the next few years.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

(3)       Key elements of the new strategy

 

(a)      Sustainable Procurement

 

“Sustainable Procurement is a process whereby organisations meet their needs for goods,

services, works and utilities in a way that achieves value for money on a whole life basis in

terms of generating benefits not only to the organisation, but also to society and the

economy, while minimizing damage to the environment.” Procuring the Future (Sustainable

Procurement Task Force, June 2006).

 

Councils and other Government bodies have a requirement to implement sustainability within

their tendering processes, to buy materials from ethical and renewable sources where

possible, to minimise their impact on the environment and to preserve it for future

generations. They are obliged to evaluate the sustainability of their suppliers and the

methods that the supplier uses in delivering the contract.

 

There are three pillars of sustainability which link together to form the aspects to be

considered as much as possible in all procurement activities:

 

Social –                Meeting the needs of individuals, often least considered but

                             having the potential to bring most benefits. This considers Health

          and Safety implications, work conditions (creating a good working

 environment can lead to greater productivity and reduced staff

 turnover, education, training, social inclusion, fair trade, equalities

                                      and eradicating poverty.

 

Economic –          Looking for ways to achieve a stable economic growth within the

local area, working within capacity of the natural environment,

adopting measures for fair and rewarding employment,

competitiveness and trade.  Improved access to services, encouraging new businesses, transport infrastructure. Ability to accommodate future users.

 

Environmental –           Protecting and conserving biodiversity, the natural environment,

reducing waste, preventing pollution, using resources efficiently,

recycling and disposing of waste in an environmentally and socially

responsible way.

 

Sustainability compliance and progress is monitored annually by the Audit Commission via

the Comprehensive Area Assessment (Use of Resources) and reviews:

 

          How well local public services are delivering better results for people across the whole

          area, focusing on agreed priorities such as health, economic prospects and community

          safety, and how likely they are to improve in the future.

 

Maidstone Council’s Organisational Assessment in 2009 placed the borough as one of the top 18 authorities in the country. The Use of Resources score was consistently performing well on all the key lines of enquiry. Assessing value for money and the outcomes for local people were important in the new assessment and effectively delivering and procuring services play a key role.

The key objectives for the Council’s Sustainable Procurement Strategy are:

 

·      To promote an awareness of sustainable and environmental issues throughout the Council.

 

·      To ensure that best practice is being followed wherever possible in these

  aspects, across each department, so that the environmental impact of the way

  in which people work and the decisions that they make is of prime concern.

 

·      To provide staff members access to greener options at the same or cheaper

prices as their standard alternatives.

 

·      To consider the local economy, logistics and sources of materials when

conducting tender exercises or evaluating supplier suitability, where appropriate

and permissible and without prejudice towards suppliers from further a field.

 

·      To encourage tenderers to submit variant bids that offer enhanced

environmental performance.

 

·      To consider what steps suppliers and contractors are taking to reduce the

environmental impact of their products, services and operations, including the

use of recycled products, resources such as energy, water and packaging, and

the disposal of waste and indicate to them the sort of goods we would like to

buy in the future, in order to encourage them to develop their own

environmental policies and practices. 

 

·       To encourage contractors to use local sources of timber products wherever

  possible and any timber products used should carry the Forest Stewardship

  Council (FSC) trademark, or equivalent recognised certification of good forest

  management.

 

·      To encourage small and medium enterprises (SMEs) and representatives from

the community and voluntary sector to participate in our procurement processes

by creating awareness of opportunities and simplifying prequalification and

tender documents.

 

·      To consider whole life costs when tendering, to identify lower operating and

disposal costs for sustainable alternatives.

 

·       To conduct benchmarking exercises to ensure that we are competitive and

aware of best practice.

 

·       To use our buying power to influence social implications e.g. working conditions,

  ensuring disabled assess in construction projects, Fair Trade employers and

  other sustainable impacts.

 

•      To use our influence to help the Council achieve its target of a reduction in CO2 emissions of 3% per annum over the next 12 years.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

(b)      Making it easier for suppliers to do business with the Council

 

It has for a long period been the aim of local authorities to encourage Small to Medium Enterprises (SME) to compete for council contracts, whilst maintaining its obligations under European Procurement Directives not to positively discriminate. This meets two objectives in that it is in line with the Councils obligation to promote local businesses but also stimulates the local economy towards increased community prosperity.

 

Government targets require that SMEs will win 30 per cent of all public sector business in the next five years.

 

The key to achieving an increase at Maidstone is for the Council to identify suitable opportunities and to ensure they are targeted or advertised in a transparent and appropriate manner and to issue documentation and procedures that are as clear and as simple as possible.

 

Steps Taken So Far:

 

During the period of the last Procurement Strategy the tender documentation has been under constant review. It has now evolved from the bureaucratic, one document fits all used in past years to a smaller, simpler, reader friendly set of documents that can be tailored to suit the nature of the business opportunity.

 

All tender documentation is now available to be sent electronically via e-mail, which enables all bidders to receive the opportunity as soon possible and provides a Microsoft Word template to use as an aid to formulating their response. This extra time and template guidance can be advantageous to the SME without experience of tenders or a dedicated bid response team.

 

In line with other Councils in Kent, Maidstone has adopted a standard set of procurement rules. Included in these rules are new contract value thresholds for tendering. The requirement for a full tendering process now only applies to opportunities of £75,000 and above, replacing the previous £25,000 threshold. This enables Officers to select local SMEs to submit quotations where appropriate.

 

With the regard to advertising, Maidstone BC now uses, when appropriate, the Official Journal of the European Union (OJEU), Supply2Gov, its own web-site and the South Eastern Business Portal. The latter is felt to offer the best link to local SMEs.

 

As part of its Published Performance Indicators the Council is now measuring and reporting on the percentage of is spend is with local businesses. This will enable the Procurement Unit to monitor changes to the Council’s spending ratios.

 

Future Aims

 

During the period of the current Procurement Strategy the tender documents will continue to be revised to make them relevant to the proposed business requirement and easier to respond to.

 

Particular emphasis will be placed on the process and documentation regarding the selection of suppliers to participate in tenders or the Pre-Qualification Questionnaire (PQQ). Again the main drivers would be standardisation, simplicity and relevance, with the added requirement that the suppliers PQQ results can be stored for future reference.

 

Keeping the PQQ Documents simple will be especially challenging, when we consider the increased requirements to consider sustainability and equality, discussed elsewhere in this document.

 

One approach to be considered is the use of pre-selection or accreditation sites or services. To-date, this approach has not met the Council’s need, being too general and often the data is out of date. It is believed that the services offered in the future will improve and become a viable option.  It is also not considered viable or economic to operate our own select list of suppliers so the Kent County Council lists are being trialled.

 

Although not solely for the benefit of local SMEs, selection or qualification criteria that are not specific to a business sector will be standardised to avoid repetition. The new European Services Directive requires councils, from December 2009, to consider details of all relevant experience and qualifications supplied by potential bidders, including that obtained in the private sector and other member states.

 

Despatching the PQQ and ITT documents electronically via e-mail has been the method of choice for a number of years and this will continue. However the Council still requires the return of the completed documents to be in hard copy form. Government guide-lines require that all tender documentation should be issued electronically by 2010 and all tender replies to be accepted in an electronic form by 2012.

 

The main obstacle to accepting electronic returns is the difficulty of evaluating the submissions without resorting to printing hard copies, with the resultant printing costs and increased time factor falling to the Council. To date a workable solution to this problem has not been identified, but further developments in the area will be monitored in particular in regards to how other councils may approach this challenge.

 

In a Central Government commissioned report (Glover Report 2008) it is recommended that by 2010 all public sector contract opportunities above £20,000 should be advertised electronically across the whole public sector. Whilst this meets the objective for transparent comprehensive advertising, it could be argued as counter productive in the promotion of local SMEs, by opening the business to larger organisations.

 

When opportunities are especially suited to SMEs, it will be clearly indicated in the advertising. However as previously stated Maidstone’s new procurement rules allow suitable suppliers to be selected to quote, for Council business under £75,000, without the need for universal advertising and a full tender process. This is the single most significant initiative to enable business to be funnelled directly to the local SME.  Officers will be encouraged, when obtaining the required three quotes for opportunities between £10,000 and £75,000, to review the local supplies and services market as a first step.

 

To ensure that the maximum advantage is gained by local suppliers from the new procurement rules, awareness amongst Officers to the opportunity and obligation to increase business locally will be continually reinforced. This will be achieved through follow up sessions to the briefings held when the new procurement rules were adopted.

 

It is further proposed to investigate the viability of creating a register for local suppliers to record their interest in being considered for predefined business areas, if and when they arise.  Such a list would then be circulated to main contractors, for consideration as sub-contractors, during the full tendering process when the opportunity requires full competitive advertising.

 

 

 

(c)       Developing Equality Practices within Procurement

 

 

Maidstone Borough Council strongly supports and is committed to the promotion of equal opportunities and the securing of positive outcomes for all sections of the community.

The two fundamental reasons for this are that;

 

The Council has a legal responsibility to ensure that the standards it has internally are supported by organisations which carry out work for the Council, and

 

It makes sure that the services the Council provides meet the diverse needs of the citizens it serves.

 

The Council already has in place its own policies on equality to ensure consideration is made to equality in the wider community by all of the Council’s employees.

 

The Council’s Corporate Equality Policy can be viewed here: 

 

http://vindex/HR/Documents/Corporate%20Equality%20Policy%20June%202007.pdf

 

The Council also understands the responsibility it has as a major procurer of materials and services within the Maidstone area and beyond and that the suppliers and contractors with which it conducts business do so in a way that is both compliant with legislation and the Council’s own policy on equality.

 

Current UK legislation states that local authorities must consider equal opportunities in their contracts, it is right therefore that the Council requires its suppliers to have similar or equal opportunity policies and procedures when dealing with issues concerning gender, race, disability, religious beliefs, sexual orientation, age and nationality.

 

Following guidance introduced within the “Equality Standard for Local Government” introduced in 2001 and revised in 2006, the Council has for many years used information gathered from its supplier equality compliance enquiries during tendering exercises, to ensure that suppliers applying for and subsequently awarded Council business are compliant with relevant legislation and enforces this with appropriate conditions as part of the services and supplies contracts it awards.

 

Future procurement activity clearly is one way in which Maidstone Borough Council can promote and enforce its equality objectives and it intends to respond positively to recommendations within, and any future guidance arising from legislation as a result of the “Equality Bill” introduced to the House of Commons and published during April 2009.

 

For procurement in particular the Government Equalities Office has stated that the wider objectives of the Equality Bill will be promoted by:

 

“Ensuring the £175 billion spent by the public sector has due regard to equality when buying goods and services supplied by the private sector , and that purchasing power can be put to good use to improve equality”.

 

It is generally accepted that if not becoming law in its entirety, significant elements of the bill will find its way into statute within 6 to 18 months. As already mentioned it is the intention of procurement to embrace the new laws and wherever possible and practicable put into place a plan of actions to bring about compliance. Scope for the creation of actions and timescales for carrying them out have been factored within the Procurement Strategy action plan in Appendix A.

 

In the meantime and with regard to enhancing equality outcomes within its future procurement activity, objectives within this strategy will be to:

 

Discuss appropriate contracts with client departments to establish how future service specifications can be drafted to promote or enhance equality and diversity issues.  

 

Ensure suppliers working for or providing materials to the Council are clear about our position on equality and are aware of the requirements placed upon them to adhere to our policy to promote equality in their own workforces to ensure public service delivery benefits from diverse skills and talents.

 

Review appropriate existing service provisions to identify equality improvement potential and manage contracts more effectively to secure the delivery of equality objectives.

 

 

(d)          Developing Shared Procurement

 

The Council is a Member of the Mid Kent Improvement Partnership which is a collaboration between Ashford Borough Council, Maidstone Borough Council, Swale Borough Council, Kent County Council and Tunbridge Wells Councils to bring about improvements across a wide range of services. Whilst a number of the projects involve procurement of services, for example print management, legal services and revenues and benefits, there is a wider benefit to be gained from a more formal arrangement that has shared procurement at its core.

 

Over the years a number of different models have been proposed within various combinations of Kent authorities for collaborative procurement, with varying degrees of success. However, a long lasting, pro-active fully supported model has not been achieved for a variety of reasons, but mainly because of lack of funding for the arrangement.

 

A proposal for a new arrangement was agreed by the MKIP Programme Board in November 2009.  As referred to earlier, the first stage of this project, to be completed by May 2010, will set the framework for future activity and comprises:

 

·     An examination of existing contracts registers and financial information to                 obtain a comprehensive knowledge and understanding of expenditure on goods            and services.

·     Development of a combined contracts register.

·     Examination of all existing contracts to get a comprehensive understanding of           current contract start and finish dates, proposed tendering exercises and in-                 house/outsourced service provision.

·     Agreement of a five year procurement programme.

·     Comparison of existing policies and strategies to form the basis of a gap                    analysis.

·     Agreement of core policies and strategies.

·       Adoption of Kent wide contract procedure rules.

·       Examination of staff costs and associated overheads and agreement of common        charge out rates for agreed levels of staff.

·       Agreement of a common set of key performance indicators and setting of annual      targets covering a five year period.

Moving forward, the work completed during phase one of the project will form the basis of procurement activity to be carried out over the next five years. This will managed by a group containing representatives from each MKIP member. The work of this group will include:

·         Agreement of a work plan based on the 5 year procurement programme.

·         Allocation of a lead to manage shared procurement projects.

·         Identification of training requirements and arrangement of appropriate training.

·         Collection, collation and analysis of data to record savings etc and to provide key performance indicators.

·         Preparation of periodic reports to the MKIP Management Board.

·         Discussion of issues arising within each authority and agreement of the appropriate action.

·         Championing the development and alignment of strategies, policies, contract conditions etc.

·         Provision of advice and support to service managers on all procurement matters including legal advice.

·         Monitoring of compliance with legislation and best practice.

·         Liaison with other similar groups in Kent to identify wider procurement activity.

 

At this stage no financial targets have been set for the savings from this procurement work, but clearly efficiencies will form an important part of the future programme.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

(4)                 Contact the Procurement Team

 

 

If you require clarification or have any comments about the strategy or indeed wish to make contact with the Council on how it obtains the materials, services or works required to support its operations and services it provides within Maidstone then please contact

Steve Trigg who is the Procurement Manager or the Team itself, details are set out below:

 

 

E-Mail      procurement@maidstone.gov.uk

 

 

Phone      01622 602811

 

 

Write to  The Procurement Unit

                Maidstone Borough Council

                Maidstone House

                King Street

                Maidstone

                Kent

                ME15 6JQ

 

 

Maidstone Borough Council Website:

 

www.maidstone.gov.uk

 

Other Useful Websites:        

 

South East Improvement & Efficiency Partnership Business Portal

www.businessportal.southeastiep.gov.uk    

 

Office of Government Commerce:

www.ogc.gov.uk

 

Improvement and Development Agency

www.idea.gov.uk

 

Federation of Small Businesses/South East Policy unit website:

 www.fsb.org.uk/se.asp

 

Audit Commission

www.audit-commission.gov.uk

 

 

APPENDIX A                          

 

Procurement Strategy Action Plan

 

This action plan will implement the improvements over the three years covered by this strategy. Progress against this plan will be assessed annually and updated as necessary.