Duplicating Savings: Danwood and Lancashire County Council
In a drive to improve efficiency and reduce the costs of print production, Lancashire County Council (LCC) joined forces with OGCbuying.solutions to engineer the ultimate cash-saving solution. Using Buying Solutions' Facilities Framework Agreement they sourced Danwood to supply networked Multi Functional Products (MFPs) and associated services, releasing estimated efficiency savings of £4.8 million.
Printing the bigger picture
LCC is the UK's fourth largest county council. Over a three-year period, it was spending some £12.7m on internal print production. An internal review investigating the way the council was handling and managing its print, identified that its 42,000 staff were generating as much as 185 million printed documents each year. These were being produced by a fleet of around 3,000 desktop printers and photocopiers located across 678 sites.
In terms of procurement, desktop printers, photocopiers, consumables and other associated services were being sourced from a diverse range of suppliers. If efficiency targets were to be met, a radical transformation of LCC's print procurement strategy was an essential step forward.
As part of this project, the council also took the decision to assess how it managed offset litho printing at its County Hall in-plant and to investigate the potential migration away from lithographic printing to digital print production.
Great savings hot off the press
Recognising that the council's overall spending could be significantly reduced, the North West Centre of Excellence guided the council towards Buying Solutions' MFP Framework Agreement. It provides access to a broad range of MFPs, print software and associated services delivering whole life cost (price) savings, enhanced document production and environmental benefits.
Said Mike Wood, LCC's Reprographic Adviser:
"By taking the OGCbuying.solutions route, we made the whole process of procurement more straightforward."
Choosing to use an established agreement saved the council conducting an OJEU procurement exercise themselves.
The framework agreement also offered
Talking print
LCC a choice of 5 suppliers (Canon UK, NRG, Oce Imagistics, The Danwood Group and Xerox UK) that were pre-selected against tough quality of service and whole life cost criteria.
A Reprographic Steering Group (RSG), lead by Mike, was formed with representation from a broad section of LCC's principal directorates. These stakeholders ensured that the project maintained its focus on finding the most efficient and cost effective solution the market could offer.
LCC also formed a Contracts Award Panel (CAP) comprising of five RSG members. With the support of Buying Solutions, this team oversaw a comprehensive evaluation of the suppliers on the framework agreement.
Continues Mike:
"Acting as procurement advisers to the council, the staff at OGCbuying.solutions provided us with ongoing support, working closely with my team to ensure the solution met all of our organisational requirements."
Suppliers were briefed on LCC's new procurement strategy, which was underpinned by the need to reduce the overall number of photocopiers and printers and migrate to a more cost efficient MFP solution.
Following a rigorous evaluation process, Danwood were awarded the contract. Their well-researched proposal not only recommended the implementation of digital MFPs from Hewlett Packard but suggested a move towards a secure print strategy, employing existing staff ID cards to ensure print costs were allocated to the appropriate departmental budget.
For broader print requirements, upgrading the central reprographics unit with high-volume digital production engines would allow staff to make much greater use of these facilities and secure additional savings in the process.
Danwood projected that it could reduce LCC's total printing budget by as much as 38%, leading to savings in the region of £4.8m during a three year contract period.
Lean, green printing machines
But it is not only cashable savings that make this project a great success. A reduction in paper usage will bring measurable sustainability benefits.
Furthermore, with networked MFPs county-wide and a secure ID system in place, home and mobile workers will be able to access any local council building to utilise the printing facilities on that site.
Printing in partnership
With such considerable benefits on the table, it's not surprising that other councils are keen to follow the example set by LCC. Salford Council have already agreed to collaborate their print requirements with LCC's in order to maximise cost and resource savings.
Neil Hind, Procurement Programme Manager at the North West Centre of Excellence comments:
"This is a further example of where utilising an existing framework can produce efficiencies for local authorities. It is hoped that many other organisations will implement a similar solution increasing the savings for the region."
LCC's ICT manager and CAP member Steve Purvor concludes:
"Danwood have been highly proactive in all of our dealings with them. This has been one of the most resource-intensive projects that we have ever undertaken but, with 38% costs saving on our overall print spend; it will be well worth all of the effort."
OGCbuying.solutions is an Executive Agency of the Office of Government Commerce in the Treasury. We provide access to more than 500,000 products and services; each sourced through a rigorous, EU compliant procurement process, and delivered either as a Catalist framework agreement or a Managed Service.
To learn more about the benefits Buying Solutions can bring to your organisation, or to order online from our comprehensive catalogue, visit www.ogcbuyingsolutions.gov.uk, contact our customer service desk on 0845 410 2222, or e-mail custcare@ogcbs.gsi.gov.uk .