Home > Newsletters > 22.12.2006

Season's Greetings!

May we take this opportunity to wish you all a Merry Christmas and a Happy and Prosperous New Year!

View the NWCE Christmas card.

NWCE Feedback Survey

We are very keen to understand how you perceive us as an organisation, the areas where we are providing benefit to your local authority and those areas where you would like us to direct our focus in the future.

As such, we ask that you please take five minutes to complete a survey to provide your feedback and to enable us to tailor our future support to the requirements of local authorities across the North West.  Complete the survey by clicking here.

Confirmed Agenda for eMarketplace Workshop - 11.01.2007

Please click here to view the confirmed agenda for the eMarketplace workshop.  The session will focus on the wider procurement functions that eMarketplaces can offer including:

• Access & control for buyers
• Driving compliance of procurement
• eInvoicing
• Reduced process costs
• Shared procurement
• Connectivity to suppliers 

The session will also include overviews on how other local authorities are currently using marketplaces and how they are seen by suppliers.  The day will conclude with a discussion on how the region may want to take forward such technology in a collaborative way so will be your chance to influence the final solution and scope of the project. 

There are limited places so please book quickly online or email Beverley Brooks at the NWCE.  

The Vault Opens for Business

The new regional contract register named "The Vault" has now opened for business.  The site has been piloted with a number of Cheshire authorities but is now being rolled out to the rest of the region.  All councils will be contacted to supply details of contracts over £50k. This will allow for better visibility of current contract information and collaborative opportunities.  Members will only be allowed to register once their initial contracts have been loaded.

Open THE VAULT.  

For further information please contact Olly Baker at the NWCE. 

2006 - 2007 Mid-Year Update Statements

“Local Government on track to deliver a further £1.3 billion efficiency gains”

Councils across England are well on the way to delivering a further £1.3 billion worth of efficiency gains this financial year according to figures from Communities and Local Government.  Read the full Press Notice….

Spikes Cavell Enhancements

Further enhancements have been made to the Spikes Cavell Observatory:

Find a Creditor
A free text creditor name search is now available in the Analyse application.  Open the ‘Search’ folder, now at the top of the folder list and click on ‘Find a Creditor’.  Type in the creditor name in the space provided and click on the Search button.  The search facility supports exact word and wild card matching.

Data Grid Overload
The web-based data grid can only hold 30,000 rows of data.  If the report you have generated exceeds this number of rows you will be offered the data export function.

Access Export
The Data and Table tabs now allow exports into Microsoft Access and Excel.

Please note that Spikes Cavell will be closed from 5pm on Friday 22.12.2006 until 8.30am on Tuesday 02.01.2007.  Support will not be available during this time.

Better Stock, Better Libraries

Better Stock, Better Libraries proposes a new approach to stock procurement to deliver greater efficiency within the library service.  The model proposes new ways of working, but also builds upon existing good practice in stock procurement within the library service.  The report also set out an outline business case which included indicative savings achievable at a national level, while acknowledging that in practice, different levels of savings will be achievable by different authorities, depending on the current efficiency of local stock procurement arrangements, and other factors.  For further information click here.

Standards Group Meeting - 26.01.2007- Change of Venue

Due to unforeseeable circumstances the venue for the Standards Group meeting on 26.01.2007 has been changed.  The meeting will now take place at Manchester Town Hall, Committee Room 1.  All other details remain the same.  Please ensure your records are amended accordingly.

See the events section for the schedule of meetings for the Standards Group for 2007, or for further information contact Beverley Brooks at the NWCE.

Food and Drink Procurement

The NWCE is looking to work with the North West Food Alliance and The Scottish & Northern Universities Purchasing Initiative (SNUPI)I on making available a number of frameworks for the procurement of food and drink.  Frameworks for fruit and vegetables and meat and poultry, the majority with local SMEs, have already been let and formal appoints due mid January suppliers.  Details will be made available shortly via both the NWCE and SNUPI web sites. .

Tenders are also being prepared for the following and an invitation is open to local authorities for participation:

• Grocery items for August 2007 start. Interest must be registered by 08.01.2007.
• Frozen Foods for 14.01.2008 start. Interest must be registered by 28t.05.2007.

For further details please email jenny.morse@nwfoodalliance.co.uk

Calling all Local Highway Authorities

As part of the Highways Agency role as a National Change Agent for Highways Procurement we are keen to receive expressions of interest from Local Highway Authorities in relation to two procurement projects.

• The Agency is in the early stages of the procurement of a winter service fleet. 
  
• The Agency is also developing a strategy for Road Weather information, forecasting and information management service.

Further details are provided in the summaries below:

• Road Weather Information
• Winter Service Fleet

The Highways Agency would like to establish whether you have similar requirements, would be interested in collaboration and discussing how your own needs could be accommodated within these procurement exercises.

Your feedback is most welcome, preferably no later than 26.01.2007.   Please contact Keith Austin on 01234 796016 or email lucy.leigh@highways.gsi.gov.uk

EVENTS

eMarketPlace Workshop 
11.01.2007 at Wigan Investment Centre

This Workshop will focus toward those Councils who recognise the benefits of using technology to reduce authorities’ costs through increased collaboration and improved supplier management.   Please click here to view the confirmed agenda.

There are limited places so please book quickly online or email Beverley Brooks at the NWCE.  

Travel Procurement Workshop - 10am to 1pm Tuesday 16.01.2006
The Woodlands Conference Centre, Chorley

The NWCE is looking to help local authorities reduce travel and hotel procurement costs. This first workshop will look at deals available and how procurement may be undertaken on a regional basis.  The change management activities will also be considered.  Please follow this link to reserve a place.

RCE Regional Workshops: Service Transformation through Partnership Event, 18.01.07 Stockport Football Club

Following on from the highly successful Local Government Engagement Event ran by the NWCE on 02.11.2006, this event is for anyone within local government with an interest in shared services, particularly with regards to the practical side of actually putting a shared service in place.   

It aims to:

• Explore the options and the toolkits available to enable your authority to successfully deliver a shared service partnership, including DCLG’s “Service Transformation through Partnership" A-Z toolkit published in June 2006.
• Help answer the all important "how do we do it" question including the process necessary to set up a shared service.
• Cover the tricky and at times complex shared services procurement process.
• Provide a valuable shared services networking opportunity to enable authorities to share lessons learned from their own experiences.

The event promises to be highly participative with delegates encouraged to get actively involved in proceedings, to debate and challenge the issues being raised.

These events have been hugely popular and places are limited.  View the agenda or click here for further information.

NWCE Standards Group - Schedule of Meetings for 2007

The schedule of meetings for the Standards Group for 2007 has been agreed as follows:

• 26th January 2007
• 26th April 2007
• 26th July 2007
• 26th October 2007

The meeting on 26th January 2007 at Manchester Town Hall.  Book your place by clicking on the above link.  All other meetings will take place at Ashton-under-Lyne Town Hall.

 If you would like further information about the Standards Group please contact Beverley Brooks at the NWCE.

SEASON'S GREETINGS AND ALL THE BEST FOR 2007!
From all at the North West Centre of Excellence