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Three County Regional Procurement Project

Published: 15/07/2014

The buying power of three North Wales counties could be strengthened if the business case for a project to share services is endorsed by Cabinet Members at a meeting on Tuesday (15 July). Flintshire and Denbighshire County Councils have merged their corporate procurement units but a third county, Gwynedd could benefit from sharing some services. Potential savings across the three councils are estimated at £2.7m in the second year rising to £9.2m in five years time and it marks the beginning of the culture change needed to achieve implementation of category management across the three counties. The project costs are being met from the Welsh Government Regional Collaboration Fund. A strong procurement unit can address a number of issues – saving money by using larger contracts, supporting the local economy through using smaller contracts and increasing local control to benefit communities through using social benefit clauses. In 2012-13 the three councils procured £384m of goods and services in total, some of the larger spend areas included £86m on social care, £100m on construction and £26m on public transport. Councillor Billy Mullin, Cabinet Member for Corporate Management said: “This is a positive and ambitious collaboration that will potentially save all the councils involved millions of pounds. In this challenging financial environment we have to find more ways to reduce costs and the three units working together will give the councils the advantage in buying goods and services to ultimately offer better services to the people of Flintshire.” The next stage in the process will be considered in the autumn.