eProcurement

The governments Gershon Review “Releasing Resources for the frontline: Independent Review of Public Sector Efficiency” and the recent Local Government White Paper set Councils challenging targets ( from 1 April 2008) of a 3% saving over the next three years on its annual expenditure. 

To help achieve this, Allerdale Borough Council in conjunction with other local authorities in Cumbria are combining their purchasing of goods and services and implementing an electronic e-Procurement system.

In terms of combined purchasing, a shared purchasing service has been set up called EPiC (Effective Procurement in Cumbria).  For e-Procurement, which is about the effective use of technology or electronic 'tools' to support the purchasing process and trading with suppliers, EPiC have enrolled the services of the EGS Group and the IDeA marketplace system.

The IDeA marketplace offers an electronic purchasing system. This service is free to suppliers (other than web posted catalogue suppliers) and ensures inclusion of small to medium size businesses, allowing contracted suppliers to display their goods and services in an electronic format. 

A 'Selling to the Council' pack is available to download which provides details of these changes and how Suppliers can register on the IDeA Marketplace

A summary of the benefits;

  • Suppliers receive an instant email or fax, and log into the marketplace and retrieve their order.  Only stock items have been requested  
  • Clear delivery instructions and contact details will be evident on the order  
  • Queries relating to delivery, invoice detail or payment enquiries will be directed to the appropriate person
  • Local and nationally agreed contracts with approved suppliers will be visible to a larger audience
  • Savings for the Council and suppliers will be from paperless ordering to payment, up to date pricing and availability, non-requirement of paper catalogues, faster transition of orders and payments, greater controls over spending through controlled suppliers
  • Invoices will be sent directly to Finance and dealt with without a requirement for additional authorisation (helping to eliminate ‘black holes' and late payments to Suppliers) - e-invoicing from suppliers will be introduced in the next phase
  • Improved management reporting and commitment accounting
  • The statutory ‘30 day Invoice to Payment’ performance indicator will be improved

Allerdale Borough Council will start to implement the system early in 2008 and this site will be updated with information as the project progresses. Further information is available in the e-Procurement Strategy which can be downloaded below.


Downloadable Documents

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File name

Size

Download time

Adobe PDF format - download the viewerAllerdale Borough Council eProcurement Strategy in PDF format45 Kb13 secs @ 28.8k, 6 secs @ 56k
Microsoft Word formatAllerdale Borough Council eProcurement Strategy in Word format179 Kb51 secs @ 28.8k, 26 secs @ 56k
Adobe PDF format - download the viewerSelling to the Council in PDF format173 Kb49 secs @ 28.8k, 25 secs @ 56k
Microsoft Word formatSelling to the Council in Word format394 Kb1 min 53 secs @ 28.8k, 56 secs @ 56k
Adobe PDF format - download the viewerSuppliers Guide to IDeA Marketplace in PDF format437 Kb2 mins 5 secs @ 28.8k, 1 min 2 secs @ 56k
Microsoft Word formatSuppliers Guide to IDeA Marketplace in Word format1066 Kb5 mins 5 secs @ 28.8k, 2 mins 32 secs @ 56k

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Contact Information

For more information please contact Procurement.

Telephone Number 01900 702960

last updated Friday, August 29, 2008