OPINION: LETTERS

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NEXT DEADLINE: 28 June

Buckinghamshire response

Your recent news article, "Ambition and apathy in fight for efficiency savings" (News,

For this period, the council expects annual efficiency gains of8.36 million, of which 8.29 million are cashable.

We expect to make these savings in functional areas as specified by the annual efficiency statement format but include a significant proportion of "better procurement" savings across die organisation.

Our proposed savings figures far exceed government targets and put us in the top five of county councils in the "league table" for efficiency. This position near the top of the table is not unexpected as we have historically funded priority services by using savings made through our embedded efficiency programmes.

Tracie Evans

Head of finance

Buckinghamshire County Council

Is there a Doctor on board?

The new series of Doctor Wlio finished on Saturday, and with it Christopher Ecclestone's reign in the Tardis (almost).

So it seems like a good time to ask, what kind of deal had he signed with the BBC? Does the corporation not ask the procurement department to get involved with these contracts?

The same basic principles should apply when setting up a term contract, whether it be for goods, services or, indeed, performers: to agree specification, performance, price, length of contract, and terms and conditions.

Although the corporation moved quickly to announce a replacement, with a series like Doctor Wlio I would have expected die BBC to want the same actor for, say, about three years, not just a few months.

If the intention was to have a longer deal, in effect an early withdrawal may be "breach of contract" and should be covered by the terms and conditions.

From my own experience, these kinds of problems can usually be prevented by having a well-structured contract where both the contractor (performer) and purchaser (BBC) know their own responsibilities. In the unlikely event of possible "breach of contract", this can usually be amicably resolved without losing the contractor.

Now the BBC faces the extra costs of remerchandising and promotion for David Tennant, Ecclestone's replacement, after such a short period.

Possibly Doctor Who could have got away with it anyway. He could say that he fulfilled a longterm contract by doing his job millions of years into die future!

Dennis Adey

Procurement officer

RWE Npower

Tilbury &Littlebrook

Power Stations

Consultancy advice queried

I have received Supply Management for die past eight years and thoroughly enjoy die articles. Invariably, issues are read from cover to cover with useful advice on how to promote our profession in our various sectors and industries.

I'm not sure on the title for my next marketing campaign, but I have the subject matter - consultancy contracts - brilliantly and eloquently supplied in response to an Adviser question (26 May).

The question was: "I am looking for benchmark data or trend information around consultancy rates. How can we monitor and control our company's consultancy spend?"

Analysing the response, it is difficult to fault its content. The suggestions for what to analyse included: the market the consultancy practices in; the economics of those markets; the varying ability of these consultants; their location; the prestige projects they have worked on; and the success of those contracts.

Then, analyse and tabulate this data so the buyer can make an informed decision about where to place the next consultancy contract, safe in the knowledge they will be receiving value for money.

But, in reality, I'd be hard pressed to locate a buyer with the resource to manage such a massive task. But also and more importantly, I'd struggle to find a buyer responsible for the variety of contracts that would provide die meaningful results we need. So the question remains, how can you get diis data? And die answer is - ask a consultant.

But asking diem to analyse what they believe they are worth and then asking them to justify it, does not represent rational procurement advice.

James Garrod

Procurement executive

Qantas

Online move takes months

Contrary to recent claims by some systems providers, it takes more than a couple of days to get a web-based purchasing system working to its full capacity.

True, most can be "set up" in a matter of hours. By the end of the first day, organisations could have plenty of users online.

And by the end of the second day, they could have a reasonable number of suppliers online (if training and contracting arrangements are in place).

However, those of us supporting users as they implement the technology know that it takes months, not days, to implement a purchaseto-pay system and start to realise the benefits - especially from electronic invoicing.

Gordon Parker

Managing director

Procurement Inline