Managed shared services
Hertfordshire County Council (HCC) has a long history of outsourcing corporate "back and front office" Managed Services going back to the early 1990s. These arrangements have been successful and have provided the authority with an informed understanding of what works well and how best such arrangements are managed. HCC is now looking to the future with a view to securing a new Shared Services contract provision over a broader set of services. HCC's vision in coming to market is that it wishes to explore putting in place an innovative new contract to be awarded in 2011 whereby the majority of the transactional activity of corporate support services in HCC will be delivered through externally provided shared service arrangements.
Partnership Working is a key theme for any new contract and collaboration across support services with the Hertfordshire district councils (through Pathfinder) and other local authorities / agencies is a desired aim. It is envisaged that the appointed private sector partner will provide the range of services within the scope, both to HCC and to other local authorities and public bodies in the UK. Such other local authorities and public bodies will be identified in more detail in the contract notice but are likely to include local authorities and public bodies within the administrative and geographical boundaries of Hertfordshire and adjacent areas. It is anticipated that these local authorities and public bodies should be able to rely on the intended procurement to purchase such services without the need for any further procurement process. It is anticipated that one aspect of this project will be the provision of a framework arrangement under which these other local authorities and public bodies will be able to call-off services from the private sector partner. It is envisaged that the core requirements may comprise some or all of the following service areas:
- Payroll
- HR transactions
- HR advice
- SAP infrastructure and application support
- ICT & Managed Services ??? Generic Internal Help Desk
- PC and server support and projects
- IT Development and Implementation
- IT Application Support
- IT Hardware purchase administration
- Cashiers
- Accounts payable
- Debtors Service
- Financial Accounting
- Finance support, guidance and advice
- Taxation service
- Customer Service Centre / Front Office
- Internal Business Support Centre
- Front of Office Services (e.g. scanning)
- Health and Safety
- Occupational Health
HCC currently uses SAP Business Management Software and therefore at least in the early years of the contract any shared service solution must be compatible with this software. The scope of services may be extended for future phases and could include those services which determine and influence policy and strategy in corporate/business support services and some professional services as outlined below: Financial Policy and Advisory, HR Policy and Advisory, Legal, Procurement, Logistics, Internal Audit, Risk Management, Treasury, Real Estate Services, Customer Services and Facilities Management. This list is not exhaustive and consideration will be given to inclusion of additional services or options for additional services which will aid delivery of the objectives of the project. The total value of the project is dependant on the outcome of any subsequent competitive dialogue process and the number of other local authorities and public bodies who are eligible and propose to call off services under any framework arrangement and cannot therefore be estimated accurately at this time. However, it is likely to be within the range of £10,000000 and £30,000000.