e-Contract Management Guidance project

Peter Duschinsky, Project Manager

James Johnston, Consultant

The Imaginist Company

Agenda

eContract Management Systems in practice

1. Introduction and a summary of our current findings

2. Case studies: – Deborah McNulty, Gateshead Council and NEPO– Andrew Maisey, Torfaen County BC and Welsh Purchasing

Consortium

3. Panel discussion

Introduction

• e-Contract Management represents the single area of e-Procurement that has yet to be addressed by NePP

• Whilst much effort is put into preparing for procurement and the tender/buying cycle, contracts are often poorly managed, leading to legal, financial and under-performance problems

• e-CM allows a more proactive control and consistent approach to the procurement process

• The introduction of the National Procurement Strategy and the Gershon Efficiency review has elevated e-CM higher up the local government agenda

• Establish guidance so that local authorities can accesspractical support and relevant information on ECM solutions

• Provide an understanding of technical solutions and estimated costs

• Deliver comprehensive, structured and easy to use guidance

• Open dialogue with Procurement practitioners in local government to determine the type of service and assistancerequired

Scope of e-CM guidance project

• The Imaginist Company is a leading independent consultancy specialising in helping public sector organisations change and adopt modern systems to realise the benefits of e-government

• We have led best practice for local authority e-procurement over the past 5 years:

– We delivered the NePP Supplier Adoption strand and have an excellent track record in the development of best practice guidance and case studies

– We have worked with a number of collaborative groups of LAs to help them plan and implement e-procurement

– We have assisted over 100 LAs, including 50 as part of the NePP Support for Authorities project - with very positive results

About us

• Definitions

• Consult Regional Centres of Excellence (RCEs)

• Consult and seek detailed information from eCMS solution providers

• Consult IDeA, OGC etc

• Develop functional comparison database

• Report progress at NePP Conference

Phase 1: Research

• Comprehensive and practical ‘how to’ guide, to include:– Definitions and how eCMS tools can complement other e-procurement

solutions e.g. e-sourcing, e-tendering

– The benefits of e-CMS and how e-CMS adds value to the procurement process

– Useful tips/lessons learned for successful implementation

– Advice on suitability of e-CMS for different types of authority and groups of authority

– Specific advice on collaborative implementation of eCMS

– Solution provider contacts and reference points

Phase 2: Development of Materials

• Technical review of eCMS solutions being used by local authorities, including:

– Comparative functionality chart– Compliance to standards, integration capability, scope for future inter-

operability

• 3 case studies, showing how e-CMS added real value

• Model eCMS project implementation plan

• Collaborative implementation map

• Costing models and business case template

Phase 2: Development of Materials

• Huge potential for savings – but double counting is rife!

• There is little understanding of the capabilities of e-CMS and even less activity - it has been difficult to identify real examples of eCMS implementation that have moved beyond the initial stages

Part of the problem is that there is no clear understanding of where e-CMS starts and finishes re e-Sourcing

The main misconception is that e-CMS is positioned to start after the contract has been signed – the focus is almost always on implementing e-tendering

Initial findings - 1

e-Tendering automates highly visible manual processes in use in all authorities - eCMS is more difficult to justify as contract management is not currently being fully enforced

Fewer than 15% of authorities have a complete contract register which is a key building block for good contract management

RCEs see eCMS as a critical element in collaborative e-Procurement and some, including Y&HCE, NEPO, are actively addressing the issue

Initial findings - 2

Initial findings - 3

• eCMS solutions on the market are, in the main, enhancements to existing Portal and Tendering applications

• Different solutions offer different benefits eg risk management

• Provision for relationship management will probably be one of the key differentors when building the functional comparison chart

Positioning eCMS

SuppliersBuyerse-Contract

Management

Collaborative stakeholders

FMS, operational & legacy systems

Case study presentations

• Deborah McNultyGateshead Council and NEPOimplementing the Due North system

• Andrew MaiseyTorfaen County BC and Welsh Purchasing Consortium implementing the Alito system

Panel discussion - key questions

• What do we mean by CMS?

• What are the benefits of good contract management?

• Who is implementing eCMS?

• What are the barriers and how do we overcome them?