North Tyneside Council Launches the North East Marketplace

Posted on Apr 12, 2003

As a leading authority in the e-procurement project Local Government Online, North Tyneside Council has been at the forefront of e-procurement development and modernisation.

It has developed the North East Marketplace, which enables the council to purchase low-cost, high-volume goods and services from approved suppliers using online catalogues. This has allowed the council to overhaul and redesign its approach to purchasing and with annual expenditure of £140m, has meant managers now have greater control of spending, as well as being able to streamline the purchasing process.

North Tyneside’s divisional manager of procurement services Bob Dennington says the aim was to cut procurement costs by submitting tenders and requests for quotations (RFQs) electronically. The council also wanted to make further savings on negotiated contracts through online auctions.

The council chose UKprocure Systems because it provides all the expertise needed under one roof. As well as providing user training, ongoing support and e-business consultancy, UKprocure Systems also hosts and maintains the North East Marketplace.

Since going live in February 2003, the council has cut the number of steps involved in the average purchase from 17 to 9, which has significantly reduced the costs of generating purchase orders. With goods being delivered direct to the buyer, the council has made additional savings by closing its storage warehouse.

Through the North East Marketplace, the council now uses electronic tenders and requests for quotations in the search for best value. As a result, it has been able to reduce its centralised procurement staff from 51 to 18, redeploying vital resources to front-line services.

With proven expertise in developing public-sector procurement solutions, UKprocure Systems is a leading independent provider of a variety of services, including a fully-managed online auctioning event, including consultancy, support and hardware, run on Oracle technology.

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About UK Procure

UKprocure Systems (www.ukprocure.com) is the leading supplier of end-to-end procurement solutions to the UK public sector, with an emphasis on healthcare, local government and education. UKprocure Systems provides managed services and hosted solutions that support the full procurement process, from sourcing and managing to ordering and invoicing. Its industry-leading eSourcing and eMarketplace solutions, which are based on the robust Oracle platform, are reinforced by UKprocure Systems consultancy services and unrivalled knowledge of the public sector supplier base and business processes. UKprocure Systems enables its customers to achieve dramatic cost savings through the transformation of the procurement process, savings that can be re-deployed to improve front line service delivery. At the same time, UKprocure Systems innovative solutions help public sector organisations meet Government targets for Modernisation, Best Value and Collaboration.

For more information please contact:
Tara Williams
UKprocure Systems
T: 020 7936 9489
M: 07976 906673
E: tara.williams@ukprocure.com

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