Lee Baker
Are we set to return to the 'bad old days' of outsourcing, 80s style, before genuine public-private partnerships? The days when externalisation of services was focused more on obtaining the lowest possible prices than on service improvement and efficiencies.
The saga of outsourcing firm Serco asking its suppliers to provide a 2.5% 'cash rebate' in order to meet the Whitehall demand for multimillion-pound savings on procurement contracts was highlighted at this week's Association of Directors of Environment, economy, Planning and Transport conference.
ADEPT president George Batten told the group's annual meeting in Warwikcshire that while the solution to the need to maximise savings in order to protect frontline services from cuts was likely to involve greater partnership with the private sector, this partnership would be undermined by the public sector merely screwing down prices.
After the Cabinet Office asked Serco to explain itself, Serco issued a statement that its offer of savings to the Government "will not result in any of the Government's cost saving programme being passed on to our suppliers".
Batten commented, rightly, that playing the game of 'passing on the pain to others' is not in the spirit of partnership. His vice president, Matthew Lugg, agreed that the seeking of savings authorities should not take "an adversarial approach that just demands a lower price".
But despite this, Cllr Clyde Loakes, representing the Local Government Association, admitted that his authority, Waltham Forest, has been calling its suppliers in and asking them to reduce costs, saying: "we can't continue to pay as if authorities are not facing these cuts".
Cllr Loakes is right that no authority can carry on paying what they are now. But re-thinking local highways and transport and other services must involve considering how delivery models can be changed to secure savings, rather than simply saying 'give us it cheaper'.
The problem, of course, is that local government only has until April until a 7% cut bites, and the clock is ticking.
The Efficiency Network is the next step in Local Transport Today's campaign to bring our extensive network of professionals the essential business intelligence required to deliver more with less.
