You've got mail: how councils combined to save money on post

[TrueBlueTerrier]

You've got mail: how councils combined to save money on postage

http://www.guardian.co.uk/public-leader ... sfeed=true" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

How 17 London boroughs worked as a single team to save time and money tendering for postal services

UK Mail won a £3.3m contract in January to provide postal services for 17 London boroughs, including Camden, Islington, Haringey, Sutton and Wandsworth, following a collaborative tender carried out under the Government Procurement Service's framework agreement for postal services.

This was one of the most clear, quick and effective processes we've been through. The standardised procurement system works well, and the whole experience was much better than other tendering processes outside this portal which we've used before and found confusing.

The main reason problem with the other processes seems to be a lack of auditing before the invitations to tender are published. The services that are being put out to tender through the GPS portal have all been audited, making it so much easier for a busy local authority to issue a ready-made tender document within specialist functions.

Invitations to tendermust include aspects specific to the nature of the service, generic tender documents with irrelevant information that has been "copied and pasted" can distract and confuse. A well-tailored tender allows organisations responding to the tender request to really focus on the solution.

One thing I would suggest to make communication clearer would be to involve a supplier when putting the document together, this would give the local authority greater awareness of potential efficiency and cost savings. The recent contract win for UK Mail incorporated a lot of input from the organisation's new technology division, imail.

Ken Cole, commercial and procurement adviser for Capital Ambition (London's regional improvement and efficiency partnership), was the project leader and not only was the procurement process streamlined, but the implementation of the contract has also been thoroughly supported. Every month a representative from each of the boroughs sits down with the team from UK Mail and Cole to discuss the mechanics of the introduction of the new postal services.

By working through a single tender, the boroughs involved achieved cost savings a lot more quickly than if they had not pooled their resources. Other local authorities can learn from what Cole and these London boroughs have achieved through clear communication with each other, by sharing their knowledge bases and employing a strong project leader to make significant savings.

Andy Barber is general manager of imail, UK Mail's new technology division

[TrueBlueTerrier]

[fishtank]

Posted by
Andy Barber
Andy Barber is general manager of imail, UK Mail's new technology division

I remember back in ye olden days of t'internet when blogs were experience and opinion not blatant advertisement.
Perhaps if they could even employ a decent writer instead of some tech-head it wouldn't read like the instruction manual for the Large Hadron Collider.

[POSTMAN]

It's not really hard is it,they walk in and tell them the price,inform them that they can undercut RM and there's feck all anyone can do about it,job done.

[DGP1]

It's not really hard is it,they walk in and tell them the price,inform them that they can undercut RM and there's feck all anyone can do about it,job done.

But TNT will see this and have a crack at it themselves, even I've begun to see TNT labels over UKMail letters and I'm sure there'll be plenty more as they fight among themselves for what they can.

[Straight4ward]

Our council switched.

4 months later, following a monumental F.U. by the opposition, we got the contract back.