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Our Strategy

1. Prior to any new procurement or re-procurement exercise the following will be considered in determining best value for the Council:

  • whether aggregating spends with other contracts generates sufficient expenditure to provide further leverage in extracting value for Bexley. As well as financial leverage the combining of services can also provide opportunities for innovation and efficiency improvements that can benefit both suppliers and Bexley as a customer
  • whether disaggregating contracts into smaller elements can generate better clarity of service delivery and understanding of the cost base to enable Bexley achieve its objective of delivering better value
  • to evaluate whether in-house services can be delivered through alternative means such as outsourcing, mutuals, joint ventures or the not for profit sector
  • the option to include efficiency clauses that achieve the Council’s annual efficiency target of 3% including gain share agreements to drive year on year contract price reductions
  • the most cost effective contract length that represents value for money to both the Council and supplier
  • the flexibility to allow additional services to be included/excluded from contract packages following changes in legislation or as new methods of service delivery become available
  • whether all statutory reporting indicators are identified as supplier monitored key performance indicators in the contract
  • the option to include incentives to exceed performance targets
  • the option to include service credits and/or defaults where performance drops below specified levels
  • collaboration with other organisations to gain further negotiating leverage and improve value for money
  • the use of existing frameworks where this provides the best value for money procurement option
  • the application of Social Value deliverables as part of a contract

2. The procure-to-pay-process will be speeded up and administrative tasks associated with the payment of invoices cut down by:

  • Strengthening the new internal policy requiring all procurement to be backed by a purchase order
  • Developing and implementing initiatives to reduce tail spend

3. The “Think Local First” campaign will continue to be promoted, including the new obligation for officers to seek a quote from at least one Bexley business where quotes are required.

4. Opportunities for aggregating contracts will continue to be explored where appropriate, with a view to reducing our total number of suppliers.