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Three County Regional Procurement Project
Published: 15/07/2014
The buying power of three North Wales counties could be strengthened if the
business case for a project to share services is endorsed by Cabinet Members at
a meeting on Tuesday (15 July).
Flintshire and Denbighshire County Councils have merged their corporate
procurement units but a third county, Gwynedd could benefit from sharing some
services.
Potential savings across the three councils are estimated at £2.7m in the
second year rising to £9.2m in five years time and it marks the beginning of
the culture change needed to achieve implementation of category management
across the three counties. The project costs are being met from the Welsh
Government Regional Collaboration Fund.
A strong procurement unit can address a number of issues – saving money by
using larger contracts, supporting the local economy through using smaller
contracts and increasing local control to benefit communities through using
social benefit clauses.
In 2012-13 the three councils procured £384m of goods and services in total,
some of the larger spend areas included £86m on social care, £100m on
construction and £26m on public transport.
Councillor Billy Mullin, Cabinet Member for Corporate Management said: “This is
a positive and ambitious collaboration that will potentially save all the
councils involved millions of pounds. In this challenging financial environment
we have to find more ways to reduce costs and the three units working together
will give the councils the advantage in buying goods and services to ultimately
offer better services to the people of Flintshire.”
The next stage in the process will be considered in the autumn.