Outsourcing

After nearly seven years working on the decommissioning of Sellafield, one of the UK’s largest nuclear sites, the Nuclear Management Partners (NMP) – a group of private sector companies who have been collaborating to manage and oversee the decommissioning process…

“Government contracts with profit-driven firms must end, says Labour policy chief” reported Civil Service World, “Strip companies of government contracts, Labour policy chief says” was the Telegraph headline. Surely, after the weeks the Labour party have had recently, trying to…

Information technology services are by far the most common reason for outsourcing, managed services, and strategic commissioning across both the private and public sectors. In our experience, it is also one of the most contentious, being synonymous with poor service…

Given the rumours, murmurs and announcements of the last few weeks, BT Global Services’ (BT GS) customers are undoubtedly all asking themselves the same questions – are BT going to sell off their outsourcing division? This question keeps arising as…

It is notoriously difficult to get visibility of the quantified value transformational outsourcing agreements are (or are not) providing.. By their very nature these agreements are complex, as is the management of the relationships that must be formed to ensure…

Responding to criticisms from their overview and scrutiny committee that their first report in February this year, regarding the lessons learned from the Southwest One (SW1) venture, was not comprehensive enough, Mr Kevin Nacey, Finance Director from Somerset County Council…

The outsourcing market is one of the fastest growing sectors in the UK today. Local government contracts alone, were worth an estimated £30.5bn last year. Understanding the size and shape of such a rapidly growing marketplace is, therefore, crucial if…

As outsourcing continues to gain popularity with both commercial-sector businesses and public-sector bodies, the importance of a strong and well resourced intelligent client function (ICF) team that has the skills and commercial awareness to drive maximum value from complex client/vendor…

With so many pieces in play on the metaphorical chessboard of complex service-provider relationships, to ensure success in achieving your business outcomes it is important to know how each will move. Who are the advocates, the obstructers and the fence-sitters?…

Supplier relationships can be complicated, they can be messy and they can at times be self- destructive. Poor planning, insufficient research, ambiguous contracts and conflicting agendas – all can contribute. These errors or omissions don’t even need to be substantial…

With the 2015 general election rapidly approaching, understanding the politics behind public-sector outsourcing is essential for organisations that are considering tendering soon for these lucrative, though often very complex, relationships. Things seem to be getting quite politically polarised – Shadow Secretary of…

The degree to which organisations engage in the strategic commissioning process can greatly affect the future of their service delivery partnership, their relationship with the service provider, and can even dictate whether they save money or incur costs that they…

September 2012 David Taylor Smith (Chief Operating Officer) Fired after Olympics blunder | May 2013 Nick Buckles (Group CEO) Resigns | October 2013 Richard Morris (Regional CEO) Quit in wake of the tagging controversy | June 2014 Eddie Aston (Regional…

Once unquestioned as one of the UK public sector’s main service providers, Serco have had to face a number of challenges in their service delivery and management team of late. As a result, could it be said that Serco are…

Big changes are afoot for the public sector procurement process after a whole new raft of legislation was approved by the European Parliament in January. The most recent of these directives, to be implemented by each Member State within the…

‘Chief Executives beware’ was the implied message from UNISON in respect of a recent employment tribunal decision that went against Barnet Council. UNISON’s recent press release suggested it was celebrating the conclusion of their “two year battle” against Barnet Council…

It was only last week that we were (or so we thought) reporting on BT’s latest public sector partnership issues with One Connect and Lancashire County Council… and yet it’s BT’s relationship with Liverpool County Council that is in the…

When complex strategic relationships between public bodies and private sector vendor organisations start to veer off track it can often seem too daunting a task to refocus vendor performance on the original business outcomes expected and agreed. With productivity levels…

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…

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…

Contractor responsibility for the PFI life cycle of the assets is a fundamental principle in PFI contracts. The related costs form a significant element in the unitary charge. Ensuring that the PFI life cycle programme is well managed and meets…

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…

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…

As everyone knows, the public sector has never been a great ‘financial bonus giver’. After all, we’re just that little bit less likely to vote for any politician who openly supports the provision of financial bonuses paid via the public…

So, here we are again. The rumpus of big public sector outsourcing (although not necessarily just in the public sector) has hit the headlines with both Christopher Hyman (CEO, Serco Group) and Richard Morris (CEO, G4S) both falling on their…

In recent years the massive tectonic plates of change have shifted significantly from a status-quo where organisations have been comfortable with long-term, hands-off arrangements with outsourced service provision across a variety of disciplines to one where every aspect of the…

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 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…

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…

Outsourcing has once again been in the public eye due to two recent high profile project failures. Last month, MI5 abandoned its reported £90m digital records management system over concerns that implementation of the system would lead to an “intelligence…

Every now and then I will come across an article about outsourcing that gives me pause for thought. One such article was published in The Guardian back in January this year. The article referred to a review designed to improve the…

At Best Practice Group, our primary function is to advise businesses and organisations on how they can contract for high-quality outsourced services, at a low cost, that can meet their desired outcomes. Our ethos is to do this by ensuring…

Prematurely terminating an outsourcing relationship is something you should really try to avoid at all costs. Those are the words we typically tell to every single prospective client we speak to who are at their wit’s end with their strategic…

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…

Failed outsourcing relationships are a really painful experience to go through. If you are in a strategic relationship that is not achieving your business outcomes then you will have tried many actions in an attempt to encourage the vendor to…

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…

After close to a month of uncertainty it was revealed last week that Daisy Group PLC has entered into an agreement to assume control of 2e2’s datacentre business unit. It was revealed late last month that 2e2 had gone into administration…

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,…

I am always on the lookout for mentions of service commissioning in the media, and at the end of last month I sat down to watch a Dispatches special, Getting Rich on the NHS. The programme highlighted Virgin’s involvement in public…