Contract Management

The need to control PFI costs is of paramount importance to any public sector organisation, yet often those responsible for PFI finance and the contract arrangements can work ‘in silo’ creating (inadvertently) a lack of cost control. Collaborative working, therefore,…

In 2007, when Southwest One was formed as a joint venture between private sector Goliath IBM, Somerset County Council, Taunton Deane Borough Council, and Avon and Somerset Police, many pointed to it as a trailblazing move: an exemplar of how…

When entering into a new strategic relationship for outsourcing or a major technology solution project, the agreement at some point in its formation will be subjected to time pressures from internal or external sources. It could be that the client…

With HM Treasury now allowing procuring organisations to keep all the savings they achieve from effective management and the realignment of PFI contracts, this provides an ideal opportunity for you to review the governance, structure and scope of your operational…

The perception of honesty and integrity in the outsourcing sector has been shaken in the wake of the negative media coverage of Serco and G4S and the announcement on 12 Dec. that both firms lost their tagging contracts. While many…

Our focus is on operational PFI Contracts: How to get the most from partner changes. With most PFI contracts having an average lifespan of 20 to 30 years, it is inevitable that some of the parties will change during that…

If you are to believe the statistics published on problematic big IT projects – whether a commercial sector Enterprise Software implementation (ERP), a Local Authority Client Relationship System (CRM) or an NHS Trust dealing with a problematic Electronic Patient Records…

As I recently read through yet another Public Accounts Committee (PAC) report uncovering yet more failures of Government procurement and project failures, I found myself wondering whether the squandering of the public purse is ever going to be addressed with…

Despite the mounting pressure of ever more limited budgets and strict HM directives to actively pursue savings in PFI contracts, it is surprising how few organisations have completed a thorough review of their PFI-related costs. Recent discussions with senior managers…

You’ve cut back and trimmed the fat, removed the less effective processes and people, and economised, as many sizeable organisations have had to do in recent years. But with more cost saving required in 2013 and all the ‘obvious’ opportunities…

The single most important key critical element of successful delivery of externally commissioned services is being clear on ‘what good looks like’ to both you and your external service provider. However, in the many hundreds of external service delivery partnerships we…

The statistics are overwhelming; nearly 50% of strategic vendor relationships end in failure. If matters have come to a head and no matter what you’ve tried, your strategic vendor is simply unable to achieve the business outcomes you expected, then…

Most organisations, whether in the public or private sector, are under extreme pressure to cut service costs – and quickly. But they also remain under pressure to keep service levels as high as they possibly can. And minimise complaints from…

Outsourcing, managed and commissioned services are prone to relationship problems, with around half failing due to partners not performing to client expectation. You will be well aware that a lack of performance kills trust, but may be less aware of…

The adverse financial ramifications of large PFI contracts that were negotiated in healthier economic times are only now becoming clear to many public sector organisations across the UK. Such agreements were entered into with the best of intentions and were…

In 2007, Somerset County Council struck a deal to outsource various services to a joint venture company. That company — Southwest One (SW1) — was intended to serve as a trailblazer that demonstrated how public and private organisations could work…

Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) procurement is an area that I find fascinating. Undertaking to purchase one system that spans the entirety of an organisation’s processes is both ambitious and risky — it promises enormous reward but is ready to trip you…

It’s a common situation. An organisation is very disappointed with what they perceive to be a failing provider relationship, unsatisfactory service delivery from a strategic provider, and they want out of the contract. They appreciate that exiting a service provider,…

The Government’s decision to pull out of letting the West Coast Main Line contract to FirstGroup is a costly and high profile example of the ramifications of a formal legal challenge on a flawed procurement process. This is quite a back-down…

The news last Thursday that Northgate Managed Services has put itself up for sale comes as little surprise to those of us with extensive experience in the managed services sector. The company has been struggling to provide any significant return for its…

Mainstream media hasn’t been shy in publicising the shortcomings of outsourcing and commissioning providers in recent times. Whether it has been the G4S debacle, or the more recent news that outsourcing specialist Mouchel has been taken over by its bankers,…

Despite good intentions on both sides of the fence, a service provider partnership can falter and you may find yourself considering options for service recovery. There are many reasons as to why this can happen (such as contract clauses), but…

At Best Practice Group, one of our greatest frustrations is seeing major service provider relationships erode in a very public manner, when better management could not only have prevented such an outcome, but served to benefit both parties and led…

Although I only joined Best Practice Group recently, I have already been well-exposed to the grim reality of faltering and failing service provider relationships. As a Sales Director and Managing Director of IT vendors during my career, I used to…

A judgment from a recent court case suggests you can now contractually rely on the advice from your service provider – even if the contract terms try to exclude it. Standard contracts provided by the vendor will often try to exclude…