How Our Procurement Decisions Are Guided
National Procurement Strategy
A National Procurement Strategy for Local Government (.pdf, 363kb) has been produced (2003) which emphasises the need for councils to improve their procurement practices to ensure value for money and deliver significantly better services at a lower cost. A key message of the strategy is that we should work with partners from the public, private and voluntary sectors and take advantage of our collective buying power.
National Improvement and Efficiency Strategy
The focus of the National Improvement and Efficiency Strategy (.pdf, 294kb) which was published in 2008 is on the joint agreement of improvement and development priorities between local and central government and the streamlining and devolving of resources to meet those priorities. Local government will therefore take a greater lead in the delivery of joint shared priorites. Procurement has an important role to play by supporting value for money and improvement, addressing efficiency and innovation, working in partnership with other local service providers and, ultimately, in the provision of better public services.
Wigan Council's Procurement Strategy
In response to the National Procurement Strategy for Local Government we produced our first procurement strategy in 2004 that focussed on the efficient, effective and economical delivery of our priorities and improvement objectives at that time. This has now been updated by our Corporate Procurement Strategy 2008 - 2011 (.pdf, 326kb). Our updated strategy sets out the key priorities for procurement in supporting the delivery of the community and corporate plans:
- Ensuring our procurement practices are transparent, open and accountable and comply with our constitution, contract / financial procedure rules and national and European legislation.
- Advancing and promoting the 'procure to pay' process which minimses manual input, provides robust information for procurement decisions and harnesses the latest technologies.
- Contribution to savings targets by addressing procurement arrangements, seeking opportunities to reduce prices, improve quality, maximise efficiency and achieve greater outcomes for residents.
- Collaboration with other public sector organisations to maximise procurement leverage, reduce duplication, share information and explore alternative procurement methods.
- Stimulating the local economy and encouraging small/medium sized businesses to apply for contracts.
- Extending the partnership principle, already established in the areas of property management, social care and housing, into other areas of procurement.
- Promoting the attainment of social, environmental and community benefits through procurement processes.
- Identifying opportunities for service improvement through greater collaboration with the voluntary and community sector.
North West Improvement and Efficiency Partnership
The North West Improvement and Efficiency Partnership (external link) became operational in April 2008 with the purpose of supporting councils in addressing the issues of improvement and efficiency to benefit their communities. It has a three-year strategy that seeks to accelerate improvements in six priority areas: economic development and regeneration, health and social care, community safety, community empowerment and neighbourhood development, children and young people's services and environmental quality and climate change. NWIEP is intended to add value in the drive for efficiency, the promotion of innovation and support for collaboration, amongst other areas.
NWIEP supersedes the North West Centre of Excellence, which offered best practice guidance on procurement by sharing information across the region.
