Local firms look for Council contracts

01 May 2012

More than 130 delegates from 60 small and medium-sized businesses packed out Kensington Town Hall on Monday 30 April at an open day to explore the business opportunities being created by a transformation in the way three west London councils run their town halls and other facilities.

The Tri-borough partners (the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea, Hammersmith & Fulham and the City of Westminster) are sharing back office functions on a truly massive scale, £300m over ten years, in order to drive down costs and protect front line services.

While contracts of this size can only be taken on by the largest companies the three councils want the main bidders to outline how, if they were awarded contracts, they might sub-contract with smaller and medium-sized local businesses to help boost the local economy.

A wide range of services are needed to make sure council facilities run well and continue to deliver excellent services. From building security and maintenance to printing and cleaning there could be opportunities for local firms to benefit from the new contracts.

The open day provided an opportunity for the five shortlisted bidders and local businesses to meet and assess each other's capacities and requirements.

Councillor Timothy Coleridge, the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea's Cabinet Member for Housing, said: "Our new Tri-borough arrangements will naturally create some very large new contracts, worth a lot of money. We have made it clear to all the bidders that we would like to see them make use of local smaller and medium sized firms when it comes to delivering these important services.

"I hope that the open day proved useful and look forward to many locally-based businesses benefiting from sub-contracts in the future."

Councillor Harry Phibbs, Hammersmith & Fulham Council's Cabinet Member for Community Engagement, said: "During these tough economic times, it is hugely important that we do all that we can to support our local small and medium-sized businesses. At Hammersmith & Fulham, we have made it easier for these businesses to bid for council work by stripping away a lot of the bureaucracy and removing the hoops that they need to jump through. I hope those changes will soon be adopted on a Tri-borough scale."

Westminster City Council's Cabinet Member for Finance and Customer Services, Councillor Melvyn Caplan, said: "The success of this open day proves that the cost-saving potential of our three councils' shared services programme does not stop at simply reducing back office managers. It also gives us strong collective bargaining power to drive down costs of external contracts and services, thereby saving our council taxpayers even more money."