GPSJ - SPRING 2025 - Flipbook - Page 43
LOCAL AUTHORITY & COUNCIL
GPSJ
FIVE WAYS that frameworks help public
sector budgets go further
There’s not a council in the
country today that’s free from
signi昀椀cant 昀椀nancial stress.
The LGA says that one in 10
councils has already discussed
receiving emergency support
from the government. Many
more are struggling to secure
su昀케cient 昀椀nancial resources
to meet their budgetary
obligations, or even to deliver
the basic essential services.
Yet still local authorities and
other social landlords are
being asked to spearhead
regional economic growth,
develop new towns, and pay
for 昀椀re safety, low carbon and
healthy home retro昀椀ts too.
In many ways, today’s current
economic situation is very similar
to the post-war years – with the
need for signi昀椀cant reconstruction
of our housing and infrastructure
assets against the backdrop
of slow economic growth and
challenging decisions regarding
spending priorities.
From that history, there are
lessons we can learn. Because
it was just 20 years after the
war that 13 London authorities,
from Richmond upon Thames
and Harrow in the west to the
Corporation of London in the east,
came together for the 昀椀rst time to
pool resources and to try a new
approach to 昀椀nding the quality
building and construction services
they needed to revitalise their
boroughs.
Their meeting notes show they
talked about creating common
social and technical standards.
Of coordinating industrialised
and standards-based build
programmes. And of serial
contracts for the bulk purchase
of components. Contracts that
would help create much-needed
economies of scale and make
these programmes a昀昀ordable.
This was the creation of London
Housing Consortium, now part of
the LHC Procurement Group, and
almost 60 years since their 昀椀rst
meeting, we are still helping local
authorities and social landlords to
achieve their needs.
Of course, today’s public
sector procurement frameworks
are much more sophisticated in
their ambitions. The introduction
of Gold Standard veri昀椀cation for
frameworks in the last few years,
for example, along with brand new
legislation in the Procurement Act
and related policy in other parts of
the UK, now puts issues like social
value and sustainability front and
centre.
But let’s not lose sight of the
fundamental 昀椀nancial reasons why
cooperation and collaboration via
framework providers makes so
much sense. Heaven knows, the
economic drivers are as vital today
as they were at the beginning.
Frameworks are created to
help buyers – usually called
‘contracting authorities’ or clients
– procure goods and services
from a list of pre-approved
suppliers, with agreed terms and
conditions and legal protections. A
framework provider, like LHCPG,
helps with the process.
For all public sector bodies,
frameworks can be one of the
most e昀케cient and e昀昀ective
ways to save both time and
money across a wide range of
construction and maintenance
projects.
In our experience, there are 昀椀ve
key areas in which frameworks
help public sector bodies to save
money:
• Reducing technical and
administration costs, eliminating
the need for teams of people
(including expensive lawyers
and consultants) to repeat
tender processes and deal with
the day-to-day assessments,
technical checks, contracts and
paperwork.
• Making the procurement
process more streamlined
and simpli昀椀ed, as so much of
the process is standardised,
repeatable at scale and
optimised for maximum
e昀케ciency. This can also lead
to quicker project completion
which, in the case of retro昀椀t and
maintenance work in particular,
can have a fast 昀椀nancial
payback to a registered social
landlord.
• Improving value for money,
through pre-negotiated terms
and conditions, often including
discounts, volume rebates
or added value services to
support local communities.
Not-for-pro昀椀t framework
providers like LHCPG also
ensure any surplus made
during the year is reinvested in
the local area. Ours is o昀昀ered
back to our members in the
form of a rebate that can be
so that long-term relationships
can be built and best practice
agreed, troubleshooting any
problems quickly and ensuring
a successful project for all.
• Providing more e昀케cient access
to local SME suppliers who will
o昀昀er clients a careful balance
of the best service, the highest
quality work to recognised
industry standards, and the
most competitive price.
Why make procurement
di昀케cult? With construction
projects, many public sector
bodies may lack the technical
knowledge or simply the
resources to undertake the
full-blown procurement process
alone, which is why they often
turn to framework providers for
support.
Clive Feeney,
Group CEO
spent on local, community
projects that deliver genuine
social value – a key driver for
today’s socially focussed public
sector and a recommendation
in the new Procurement Act.
• Encouraging collaboration
between clients and
establishing centralised buying,
which delivers those economies
of scale I was referring to
earlier. Also, collaboration
between clients and suppliers
So, in the face of continued
economic challenges, I urge every
local authority chief executive
and housing team to look afresh
at how LHCPG’s Gold Standardveri昀椀ed frameworks can help
streamline processes, minimise
paperwork, and leverage collective
buying power to secure better
prices. By doing so, we can
achieve substantial cost savings
and deliver signi昀椀cant social value
to our communities.
GOVERNMENT AND PUBLIC SECTOR JOURNAL SPRING 2025
43
