Councils are under greater pressure than ever to critically examine whether they could do things more efficiently, and to root out any unnecessary processes or duplication.
But while they are able to streamline their own management structures and internal procedures, they are stymied by not knowing very much about what is behind contractors' costs. That is why the SE7 Alliance's work on highways costs, led by Surrey County Council, is seeking "complete visibility" over why it costs what it costs to say, put down a square metre of road resurfacing.
How much of this cost is down to the materials, the labour, the vehicles and other, more specialist supplies like road markings? How much of these costs are necessary, and how much of them could be driven down by critically examining business processes? And what scope might there be to jointly purchase some materials?
Transparency of council spending means we know how much a county council is paying its roads contractor every month when it pays its invoice. But we have no idea, as taxpayers, the extent to which that invoice represents good value for money compared to the outcomes achieved and compared to what contractors are providing elsewhere.
Some of these avoidable costs will be down to the local authorities themselves - their ordering processes, their specifications. And contracts when first let are by their very nature good value for money, because they have been won competitively.
But several years into contracts there is no reason why contractors should not be kept on their toes and tasked with overhauling processes and doing things as efficiently as they can.
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.
