As the end of the financial year approaches, organisations will now be planning ahead for next year’s finances and traditionally there will be budget remaining that needs to be allocated – which provides the ideal opportunity to consider investment in a contract management system. Now is the ideal time to begin the journey towards a more sustainable procurement process.
Since the announcement of the Public Contracts Regulations 2015 (PCR 2015), there has been focus on improving the way in which the public sector procures goods, services and works. Specifically, how can this be a more sustainable and manageable process? The EU has answered this by introducing regulation to ensure that all tender documentation must be made available electronically.
With a strong focus coming from the EU on contract management, there is a significant need for a centralised and organised method for contract management – the costs, timescales, audit trail, information sharing and performance analysis.
Although the use of electronic documentation in procurement is increasingly widespread, this regulation should provide a significant boost to improving public sector procurement. From a contracting authority’s perspective, making contract documentation available electronically across the organisation is both sustainable and attractive. As well as cutting costs, this saves time and resource within the contracting authority, making it a more productive and streamlined process.
As well as the introduction of electronic documentation, contract management has become a central focus in the implementation of electronically available documents. Since it is necessary for contracting authorities to publish all documentation electronically, it is important that they invest in a reliable contract management system, such as Contract Manager by Delta eSourcing, which can help contracting authorities to comply with the regulations and centralise all their documents.
Delta’s Contract Manager allows contracting authorities to manage all of their contracts and awards as well as providing a central repository that facilitates the recording, promotion and monitoring of all contracts and agreements made by the authority. There are also functions that allow both the contracting authority and its suppliers to keep track of contracts, score suppliers against KPIs and review contracts at set intervals. As a buyer or supplier, it is important to follow the rules; Regulation 68 of the Public Procurement Regulations 2015 on ‘Life-Cycle Costing’ states that buyers must take the entire life-cycle cost into consideration rather than initial costs only. Contract Manager allows the tracking of the value of contracts, which is important for the purposes of compliance.
Investing in a robust contract management system is beneficial to both contracting authorities and suppliers as it ensures compliance with EU regulations mandating that all documentation be made available electronically produces a reliable audit trail and provides for contract transparency – but the main benefit is a more sustainable way of procuring.
The Delta team pride themselves on being responsive to customer needs and the ever-changing requirements of legislation and have recently developed its Contract Manager service with a suite of modules which ensure compliance with EU regulations, a reliable audit trail and contract transparency. Contract Manager consists of:
- Contract Register allows you to manage all your contract awards and provides a central repository facilitating the recording, promotion and monitoring of all your organisation’s contracts and agreements.
- Contract Performance allows buyers to track their contracts, score suppliers against KPIs and review contracts at set intervals.
- Contract Change Control allows value tracking of contracts in Contract Manager’s Contract Register. This will assist buyers in complying with Regulation 68 of PCR 2015, “Life-Cycle Costing”, which states that buyers must take into consideration the entire life-cycle cost rather than initial costs only.
For more information on Contract Manager for your organisation, please click here.
