Councils in the east of England have been urged to take advantage of a project designed to help them transform their commissioning and procurement processes.
Thurrock Council has already delivered more than £200,000 of savings by using procurement experts from the East of England Local Government Association’s (LGA) Talent Bank.
The council has since introduced a corporate policy that no contract will be extended without a full performance and cost review.
Ken Cole, who carried out Thurrock’s transformation programme, said: ‘We brought in proven ideas and approaches, exploited existing systems, helped train staff and extended the core team to ensure the work we delivered left a lasting legacy.’
Cecilia Tredget, from the East of England LGA, added: ‘Ken carried out an extensive report that showed that there was an attractive business case for streamlining the whole commissioning and procurement process.
‘This fitted in well with the council’s broader transformation programme, which had identified it as an area in need of modernisation.’
