Collaborative procurement a winner

The Greater London Authority (GLA) has set an ambitious target to save over AUD$713 million from the ‘sharing of services and collaborative procurement’ using the 2010-11 budget as a baseline.

The authority, which is responsible for London’s fire, police and transport services, as well as local authorities, is highlighting the benefits of collaborative procurement.

“Significant savings should be achievable through collaborative procurement while a workforce analysis has been used to identify areas to be scoped for potential sharing of services,” the GLA Group Budget Proposals and Precepts 2011-12 said.
 
“The scale of the programme and the early development stage of many of the work streams mean that significant savings are unlikely to be achieved before 2012-13,” the report said.

In July, the Mayor of London’s budget and performance advisor, Nicholas Griffin, told the London Assembly’s Budget and Performance Committee that shared services and collaboration aimed to deliver around $790 million of savings from the $3.5 billion of combined procurement across the GLA.

In December, the committee’s response to the GLA’s draft budget said: “Among the workstreams yet to be scoped up is procurement which, we were led to understand, has the greatest potential to offer savings. This limited progress raises questions about the basis for the total savings estimate provided in July and the level of priority given to this programme.”

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