Why Local Councils Should Use a Shared Vendor Management Solution
Councils nowadays are under increasing budget pressure, thanks to rate capping and expense controls implemented by Government in an attempt to lower costs and save money.
However, the requirements for more compliance and improved governance has not changed. The end result is that councils find themselves stuck between a rock and a hard place. On the one hand they have less money, but on the other hand there is an increased requirement for improved compliance management and governance. As a result, every local council is looking for new ways to improve their efficiency and reduce their administrative burdens.
One of the easiest, and most cost-effective strategies to achieve this is by encouraging the facilitation of more collaborative arrangements between various local councils, by purchasing smarter solutions or systems that can be shared. This allows for the opportunity to split the cost of these solutions over a wider range of budgets, while gaining the full benefits from using these solutions. Examples of these solutions are:
- Risk Management,
- Contract Management
- Vendor Management
- Safety Management
- …..and many other types of solutions.
The obvious overall benefits are:
- Sharing good practice, processes and procedures (efficiency)
- Lower costs in transaction processing (cost savings)
- Consolidation of high-end functional expertise (effectiveness)
- Greater focus on core business within each organisation
- Promoting regional policy objectives and overcoming geographical skills shortages
Some good examples where this kind of Shared Solution Approach can help councils are within Procurement Solutions. This may include Procurement Planning, e-Procurement, Vendor pre-qualification, Contract Management, etc.
If we take, for example, the management of Vendors, then the following are the benefits which can be gained from a shared solution approach:
- Prevent double handling of vendors by only doing their pre-qualification once, and then they will be qualified on behalf of the entire region.
- Save time, effort, and cost; which contributes to process efficiencies when engaging suppliers. This is especially true when some of the admin burden and responsibilities are better shared between vendor and council.
- Reduce the risk of using non-compliant vendors and the complications associated with doing so.
- Identify and rate performance issues with suppliers. Once identified, all councils within the region will be made aware and therefore prevent the risk of reusing problematic vendors.
- Give councils the opportunity to confer about using a particular supplier regarding the quality of their work, capabilities, service levels, etc.
- Support the ongoing development of ‘pool of vendors’ due to greater standardisation and collaboration on a regional level.
And these are only a few of the features Nimblex has to offer.
Of course, once a vendor is pre-qualified, it is essential to manage the ongoing compliance of this vendor over time to ensure they stay compliant with the pre-qualification criteria. To achieve this, Nimblex provides a dedicated evaluation administrator to oversee the solution, and the engagements between it and vendors.
The evaluation administrator monitors the responses of vendors, reviews the certificates they submit, and ensures any pro-active measures are taken to make sure the best outcome is achieved for both councils and vendors. This person will also oversee the upload of pre-qualified vendors into the various eProcurement solutions of the various councils.
Do you want to know more about shared solutions? Request a demo today and find out how a Nimblex solution can work for not only your local council, but other local councils in your region too.
