Tim Slorick
Tim is a founding partner of K Consulting, leading the organisation to develop a growing reputation for a combination of strategic throught and hands-on delivery.
Sustainable procurement at the sharp end
- By Tim Slorick
- Published 1 June 2009
We are currently working on a project with a group of local authorities to deliver community benefits on both existing and future contracts let by the member organisations. The challenge of the project is not so much the development of a robust, easy-to-use model that has objective measures against the Economic, Social and Environmental (ESE) criteria, but the increasing challenge of trying to balance these outcomes with yet more aggressive cashable savings targets. On the one hand, local reinvestment, social inclusion, diversity and equality are to be the focus, whilst on the other, an ever-demanding efficiency drive to reduce budgets whilst maintaining service levels. So, what's the answer?
Our view is that one objective does not necessarily have to be met to the detriment of the other; in fact, the ideal outcome is that the amalgamation of both objectives into one model will deliver the greatest benefit. That is to say, it's not about swapping price/quality for economic/social/environmental assessment, but rather an addition of the latter into the way in which procurement is carried out and contracts are managed.
The challenge being faced at the moment is the translation of desired outcomes (ultimately the well-being, or happiness of citizens) into tangible, measurable actions that are realistic to deliver and objectively measurable. Furthermore, we have the challenge to bring these measures to a monetary value in order to demonstrate value to the council tax payer - ideally a lower council tax bill, or more services for the same. At this point, the view is that the measures will have to be split between monetary and non-monetary in order to have outputs that logically follow from the desired outcomes.
It's early days for the project, but community benefits is a pressing and growing issue within the public sector. Whilst we recognise the severe and growing pressure on public sector procurement professionals to deliver even greater cashable savings, we believe there is an opportunity to incorporate a wider set of intelligent measures that not only deliver the financial benefits against the contract value, but start to have a real impact on the wider benefits within the community.
Our view is that one objective does not necessarily have to be met to the detriment of the other; in fact, the ideal outcome is that the amalgamation of both objectives into one model will deliver the greatest benefit. That is to say, it's not about swapping price/quality for economic/social/environmental assessment, but rather an addition of the latter into the way in which procurement is carried out and contracts are managed.
The challenge being faced at the moment is the translation of desired outcomes (ultimately the well-being, or happiness of citizens) into tangible, measurable actions that are realistic to deliver and objectively measurable. Furthermore, we have the challenge to bring these measures to a monetary value in order to demonstrate value to the council tax payer - ideally a lower council tax bill, or more services for the same. At this point, the view is that the measures will have to be split between monetary and non-monetary in order to have outputs that logically follow from the desired outcomes.
It's early days for the project, but community benefits is a pressing and growing issue within the public sector. Whilst we recognise the severe and growing pressure on public sector procurement professionals to deliver even greater cashable savings, we believe there is an opportunity to incorporate a wider set of intelligent measures that not only deliver the financial benefits against the contract value, but start to have a real impact on the wider benefits within the community.
