Accenture to help London cut procurement costs through shared services

Accenture, a global management consulting, technology services and outsourcing company, has been contracted by the City of London Corporation (the local authority governing the London CBD) to help cut its procurement costs by AUD$48 million over five years.

They will attempt to achieve this goal through a procurement shared service for multiple departments.  

The contract, which is Accenture's first major UK local government contract, will see the service provider paid based on results.

The shared service will take over all procurement which will be delivered by a team made up of City of London Corporation staff and Accenture staff. The shared service will pass over to the City of London Corporation at the end of the contract.

"The City is seeking to achieve savings and drive efficiencies through the way in which it conducts its procurement and procure-to-pay functions," said Chris Bilsland, the City of London Corporation’s financial director.

Accenture will provide training for both the City staff involved with the transformation and those who will take over the ongoing management of the centralised procurement service after Accenture.

There will be an IT upgrade as part of the implementation of an eMarketplace and a buyer portal to assist departments in making use of the service.

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