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This is an exciting time for procurement at Oxfordshire County Council and Cherwell District Council, with its service undergoing a significant transformation that will position it to deliver outstanding value to the councils and the communities it serves.
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As a part of the councils transformation, the new design sets out a fundamentally different operating model and structure for how the Councils will deliver Provision Cycle activities in the future,
focusing on:
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The establishment of a consolidated Procurement and Contract Management Hub to drive the professionalisation and consistency with which procurement and contract management activities are delivered as well as reducing fragmentation and duplication of effort.
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The implementation of a category led approach to managing spend in order to aid organisational wide decision making in relation to key areas of expenditure and break down historic service-based silos.
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Developing a single repository of contract and spend data that is trusted by all stakeholders and used to inform effective decision making in relation to third party spend.
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The establishment of effective, and appropriate, governance relating to both Councils expenditure with third parties.
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Continuing to develop effective joint working across Oxfordshire County Council, Cherwell District Council and other partners where this arises
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Implementing a future proofed model that can be quickly scaled based on increased spend/demand in a certain category, or new categories.
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The design
The Procurement and Contract Management Hub is structured into 3 category pillars, Health, Education and Social Care; Environment and Infrastructure; Corporate and Commercial, supported by a number of functional services:
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Key changes to ways of working
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A joint Procurement and Contract Management Hub across OCC and CDC with all posts shared between the two authorities.
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Three Category Management pillars, each pillar comprised of an individual Head of Category, supported by a number of Category Managers and Category Officers (where the level of spend under management requires this).
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The creation of a dedicated Procurement and Contract Management Intelligence capability.
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The creation of a dedicated Procurement and Contract Management systems capability.
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The proposed model and ways of working will provide a stronger focus on managing each authority’s expenditure at a strategic level that moves beyond existing departmental siloes.
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Provision cycle
Often described as Commissioning, Procurement and Contract Management with the term “Provision Cycle” being used by the authorities to reflect the cyclical nature in which they consider, deliver and review the products and services that they provide.
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The key objectives
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The key objectives of the Provision Cycle review were to ensure that the future functions are able to deliver:
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A strategic approach to managing the authority’s expenditure that aligns to leading practice.
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An enhanced commercial capability.
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A scalable model capable of handling additional activity as required.
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Robust and informed decision making.
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Still want more details?
Call Becca Farnon on 020 3031 9628.