www.hertsdirect.org
Doing Business with Hertfordshire8th June 2007
Mark Housden
Supplier Manager
Hertfordshire County Council
www.hertsdirect.org
Our procurement aims
• Supporting local business is important to us
• We want to reduce your transaction costs as well as our own
• We need to meet our targets for doing business electronically
• We need to utilise our electronic systems fully to benefit from the investment we have made in them
www.hertsdirect.org
What we are doing
• Carrying out spend analysis – who, where, how much?
• Working with suppliers to streamline our internal processes
• Rolling out GPC Visa Purchasing Cards for low value purchasing
• Investing in state of the art e-procurement systems
www.hertsdirect.org
What we are doing
• Promoting payment of suppliers by BACS, with an e-mailed remittance advice
• Aiming to pay promptly, and minimise disputed invoices
• Ceasing internal processing of paper invoices
• Improving our vendor database and providing improved contact for Suppliers
www.hertsdirect.org
How you can work with us
• Supply BACS details and an e-mail address for the remittance, with your invoice
• Consolidate invoices where possible
• Use electronic means to do business with us
• Talk to us!
www.hertsdirect.org
The cost of doing business
Number of suppliers 11,317*
Number of invoices 298, 673*
Cost of processing paper invoice = £20 - £35
Cost of processing Purchasing Card transaction = £7
Cost of processing electronic purchase order = £5 - £12
*East of England Regional Centre of Excellence Spend Analysis
www.hertsdirect.org
Where we spendHertfordshire County Council Spend by Region
3
2
3
4
5
11
14
58
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70
Other
North West
Yorkshire and The Humber
East Midlands
West Midlands
South East
London
East of England
Regio
n
% of value
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What we buy
Total Spend by broad category (%)
19%
4%
16%
22%7%
4%
2%
4%
22%
Social Community Care
ICT
Unclassified Non Trade
Construction
Consultancy
Facilities Management
Vehicles Not Buses
Environmental Services
Other
www.hertsdirect.org
Why do business with us?
• Low risk customer
• Dedicated contact points for suppliers
• We clearly specify our requirements in contracts and award to clear criteria
• National targets to meet for prompt payment of invoices according to agreed Payment Terms
www.hertsdirect.org
Conclusion
We want to work with you to develop mutually beneficial ordering and payment processes
We will listen to any suggestions you have for improving our processes
We want to continue to build on our recent successes in improving our procurement processes
