Presented by Verity Smith, SW Project Manager

 Consultancy is a largely unmanaged area, and therefore untapped for savings  We needed better control, management and MI on the consultants we used  Spend was escalating, year on year  A pilot of the Central Government toolkit in Local Government was offered by the Local Government Professional Services Group to the region, SW RIEP funding was gained  Savings Nationally of £285million were benchmarked as achievable

Some of the key players who are signed up to the Consultancy Value Programme

 To understand how procurement of professional services (temps, consultants and interims) is currently undertaken  To implement a process for the management of professional services through a gateway / business case  To review the current arrangements for temporary staff with a view to maximising in house resource and market prices  To implement the consultancy value programme best practice tool kit of every new procurement of professional services which includes demand management, contract management, pricing tools, handover and benefits analysis  To work HR staff in the development of links between professional staff and general workforce management  To communicate, raise awareness and embed the project in the South West  To develop and install a database management system for consultancy across the South West Better managed use of consultancy, not stopping it altogether

 Fully implemented CVP in Gloucestershire and Wiltshire  Have a savings figure for the region of circa £10million  Played a key part in the formation of a new National Temps Framework, which GCC will be adopting FY 11/12 – MSTAR  Feeding regular information to HR on the consultants used for skills gap and workforce planning analysis  Taken “Negotiation with Consultants“ training into the region – Free of Charge – with excellent feedback  Developed a consultancy management tool and database which is being implemented in 15 LGAs and all 6 FRS in the SW

 We don’t buy what we thought we did, the category is more complex and was managed even more poorly than we had ever anticipated  Don’t underestimate the time it takes to communicate with stakeholders  Plans change, people’s priorities shift and this can make managing a project hard work  Know when the role of project manager stops and the role of category manger begins  We’re on track to hit our savings target!

THANKS FOR YOUR TIME! To get involved contact - Verity Smith E: T: