Autumn 2015

CorporateUpdate

Waste equipment frameworks and smarter collaboration offer real solutions for cash-strapped councils to save money when it comes to bin procurement.

Solving the wheelie bin procurement puzzle

What can be done?Despite well-meaning grants from the Department for Communities and Local Government (DCLG) to support local collections in England and Wales, the centre seemingly remains unwilling to set out common household waste collection specifications, allowing bin ordering to be standardised as it is in Scotland.

DCLG’s report Household Waste Collection: Procurement Savings Opportunities eyed a £42.6 million saving ‘driven by harmonisation and standards’ across the sector – including a potential saving of £13 million from the purchase of containers and £12 million from wheeled bins – but it did not examine ‘on the ground’ conditions, and the barriers to procurement, in great detail.

Procurement for household waste collection is in reality complicated by a web of austerity, specification, local arrangements, procurement and commodity pricing-related issues.

Councils are grappling with declining central funding and new efficiencies, so next stage recycling campaigns could be overtaken by other priorities particularly front line services.

How could bin procurement be changed?Out of these resource constraints and the lack of clarity on technical options, there are some ways in which local authorities could work more effectively with their suppliers, or refine their wider approach to procurement. For sure, none of them represents a silver bullet, but they could create the conditions for equipment cost savings or uplift in quality over time. In a world of shrinking resources, waste teams’ ‘top-up’ orders for new housing estates are often overlooked but they represent an opportunity for smarter buying.

Councils that identify the proportion of spending on top-ups and work with departmental colleagues to identify the

number of new properties being released in their area could be in a position to organise larger-scale orders and drive economies of scale.

Waste departments could also reconsider their approach to collaboration – this time with the support of ESPO. We can provide consultancy support that helps contain risk, rather than over-ambitious multi-authority plans that may increase it. For example, ESPO can provide procurement health checks and technical support that is actually free to the waste department buyer where their operations are funded by product rebates on purchased equipment.

ESPO recently worked with the London Waste & Recycling Board managing collaborative procurement, through which 12% equipment cost savings were achieved.

Perhaps the most exciting opportunity to improve equipment sourcing is the most under-valued: frameworks. This approach helps streamline buying, drive up quality, take the volatility out of commodity prices and lift the administrative burden off hard-pressed departmental personnel.

These benefits are achieved because we have pre-agreed best in class specifications with EU and UK compliant processes with key equipment suppliers.

Our procurement experts reach agreements that look after both the buyer’s demands and manufacturers’ capabilities and pricing. We work on a long-term basis with buyers and suppliers to examine market data, innovations as well as advantageous supply and delivery terms in ways that in-house council environmental directorates or waste departments struggle to do. The benefits for front line teams could include increasing recycling material in bins or suppliers providing load specifications with 12 high stacking options.

Is running tenders too time-consuming and costly? Well, frameworks widen the options here as well. An authority can use our Refuse and Recycling Products framework (860) for direct call-offs or carrying out a next stage competition, with specifications organised through the third party buying organisation. These streamlined and compliant approaches to equipment buying save staff time and effort.

More than that, they raise the possibility of waste teams collaborating with their peers in evolving realistic, low-risk and repeatable equipment procurement strategies. These approaches harness economies of scale for the buyers as well as the manufacturers that are seeking to match orders to production capacity.

Household waste bin procurement is a vexed question but pragmatic use of suppliers, third party buying expertise and careful joint buying can help drive out buying costs.

The use of framework (860), however, could be the real breakthrough.

This is because it brings together councils, waste/procurement buyers and manufacturers to find common and more considered buying approaches to saving money – in a way that neither the Government nor market forces is likely to do.

Department for Communities and Local Government (DCLG’s) pre-Election call for £42 million savings in local government waste collection procurement attracted scepticism in town halls across the country. Household waste collection will always generate plenty of hot air (and much else) but no-one in England and Wales has worked out a practical answer to helping local authorities boost recycling rates or standardise household waste collection and logistics.

But one of the lasting questions from this situation is how to help councils bring down wheelie bin procurement costs.

Laura Maitland explains…

ESPO has saved our customers hundreds of thousands of pounds through using our frameworks.

But don’t just take our word for it:

“I found ESPO to be very professional and responsive, whilst tendering our facilities management contract for The Royal Opera House. After acknowledging the significant amount of money spent on facilities management to our sites, we knew that we wanted to procure the total facilities management services, through an organisation that could help achieve significant efficiencies and cost savings.”

Ian Brown, Head of Facilities, The Royal Opera House.

Take a look at our Case Studies at espo.org/casestudies to view how we have saved procurement costs, resource and time for other public sector organisations.

If you are interested in providing a testimonial or taking part in a case study for an ESPO framework that you have used, then please contact the Account Manager located in your region espo.org/contact

ESPO announce the launch of Renewable Energy Solutions framework (2838)

• Lot 1: The supply and installation of solar PV systems (primarily focused on systems up to 50kW electricity).

All the suppliers on this lot are Microgeneration Certification Scheme (MCS) and Renewable Energy Consumer Code (RECC) accredited. This lot is accessed through a further competition route, due to unique nature of each project. ESPO can help throughout this process and provide the necessary further competition documents.

• Lot 2: Consultancy and project management for all types of renewable energy solutions, including but not limited to electricity (solar PVs, wind turbines, small-scale hydro), heat (solar thermal, biomass boilers, air source heat pumps, ground source heat pumps) and combined heat and power (CHP).

Consultants can provide advice and support with all types of renewable energy solutions, and can be as hands-on/off as the customer wants. This also means that as new technologies enter the market they will be accessible through the framework. Customers can call-off immediately using the information in the user guide, meaning a quick and easy way to access these services, or can conduct further competitions, which ESPO can help with as necessary.

Coming at a time of growing importance of renewable energy: following the EU’s Renewable Energy Directive (2009), the UK is aiming for 15% of all energy from renewable sources by 2020.

The Department of Energy and Climate Change have announced that to achieve this, 30% of electricity will come from renewable sources, 12% of heat will come from renewable sources, and 10% of transport fuel will come from renewable sources.

ESPO has recently launched its own new national Renewable Energy Solutions framework (2838) which gives public sector bodies in the UK a compliant way to purchase the supply and installation of solar photovoltaic (PV) systems and/or consultancy and project management for all types of renewable energy solutions.

The framework is divided into the following lots:

ESPO is supporting the brand new Local Government Procurement Expo 2015, which takes place on Wednesday 18 November 2015 at London Olympia.

This event is designed to bring together buyers and suppliers involved in local government procurement for one day of learning, networking and collaboration.

In the £45 billion local government marketplace, Local Government Procurement Expo 2015 is a great opportunity for you to connect with suppliers showcasing the latest products and solutions, attend essential procurement training sessions keeping you abreast of the latest regulations and hear about the implications of the forthcoming reforms.

Attending this event will also give you the opportunity to attend master classes and interactive workshop sessions run by various speakers. Sessions have been designed in conjunction with LGA to assist you in optimising the opportunities the National Procurement Strategy offer.

For more information please visit: www.localgovexpo.co.uk

Through the current age of austerity, public sector organisations continue to scrutinise spend and aim to meet targets for saving money and increasing efficiencies, however, there is also a continued need for staff to have the right ICT equipment and systems to operate their roles well.

As technology develops and new products and innovations become available in the marketplace, there is always an interest to keeping up to date with new technologies to improve functions and tasks staff need to perform efficiently throughout the working day.

ESPO recognises the changes over the years in different public sector IT hardware and software frameworks namely CITHS, ITHS and Sprint ii; such knowledge enables us to work with others to develop a suitable offering to meet the ICT demands of the public sector.

Procuring ICT solutions can be achieved within a short time-frame and in a compliant manner with ESPO’s* Technology Products framework (RM1054). This framework offers customers an easy way to purchase a wide range of ICT products including, but not limited to tablets, desktop PCs and peripherals, infrastructure hardware and networking equipment, software products and associated services.

Our Technology Products framework (RM1054) has been put in place to allow customers one easy route to purchase their required ICT goods and services; and offers a wide range of suppliers who have the expertise to not only supply a variety of different solutions but also have the knowledge to provide advice and guidance for more complex customer requirements.

So, whether your requirement is to purchase a laptop, or even a whole suite of Microsoft Office software, then our Technology Products framework (RM1054) will meet your need.

Keeping costs to a minimum when meeting demands of ICT requirements in the workplaceICT is at the forefront of every persons’ working life and we’re all dependable on ICT equipment and systems, whether the majority of the working day is spent in front of a computer, spent out and about in a field-based role using a hand held device or used to support meetings and presentations via laptops and tablets.

For more information please visit espo.org/frameworks *This framework has been developed in collaboration with ESPO, CCS, YPO, NEPO and CBC

“I look forward to building relationships and discussing ways in which ESPO can help to provide procurement solutions to cut costs, reduce tendering times and ensure best value is achieved from using ESPO.”

For further information on any of the articles in this newsletter, or to discuss your procurement needs please contact:

Steve Exley, Business Development Manager – UK South:e: s.exley@espo.org t: 07827 881 641

or Sandra Sewell, Corporate Account Manager – UK North:e: s.sewell@espo.org t: 07824 824 643

or James Nunn, Corporate Account Manager – UK South West: e: j.nunn@espo.org t: 07900 748 436

To make changes to your contact details: e: marketing@espo.org t: 0116 265 7927

Introducing James Nunn – New Account Manager for the South West regionAs we continue to grow and build relations in most areas of the UK, it made perfect sense to look at the opportunities emerging in the South West region. We are delighted to announce the recent recruitment of James Nunn, Account Manager to cover the South West region, to complement our current customer portfolio throughout the UK.

James brings with him a wealth of experience in dealing with key accounts for large corporate organisations; being a naturally approachable person with great customer skills we believe that James will be the person to talk to when reviewing your procurement requirements.

We recently launched our new Frameworks Catalogue designed for use by all public sectors including NHS, Local Authorities, Central Government, Local government Agencies, Blue Light organisations, Housing Associations and Charities.

The catalogue holds over 150 frameworks intended to meet your needs; so whether you are looking for a cost effective solution to maintain your grounds, find suitable gas and electrical solutions, meet your food and catering requirements or even help with recruitment or consultancy needs, then our list of free to access, fully compliant, frameworks can help you!

You will find this catalogue easy to use and will navigate you effortlessly through each category section; essential details of each framework are provided, such as, its number, name, geographical coverage and expiry date.

Further information can be found on espo.org If you would like to requst a copy of the new Frameworks Catalogue please visit espo.org or contact marketing@espo.org or your Account Manager on the details shown below.

If you prefer to receive an electronic copy of this newsletter in the future, email: info@espo.org

© ESPO 2015 ESPO Barnsdale Way, Grove Park, Enderby, Leicester LE19 1ES • espo.orgThis publication is printed on paper made from a mix of wood sourced from sustainable forests and recycled pulp.

New frameworks launched since last edition:• Parking Management Solutions framework (509)

• Electronic Homecare Monitoring and Scheduling Solutions framework (394)

• Technology Products framework (RM1054)

• Online Payment and Engagement Solutions & Cashless Catering Systems framework (978)

• Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) & Clothing framework (144)

Have you received your new Frameworks Catalogue?