ePS is enabling the Scottish public sector, including central & local government, higher and further education sector and the NHS, to win the cost savings and efficiencies of eProcurement. ePS is a hosted and managed eProcurement service It is a common technical platform for all Public organisations to use. ePS is a business change programme which takes the opportunities of eProcurement technology to address a need for change in the ways in which public procurement is managed and practised. Operational since 2002, 75 public sector organizations are subscribing to the service , significantly ahead of the target of 50.
Policy Context
Public procurement is devolved and is the responsibility of the Scottish procurement directorate of the Scottish Executive. Scotland is following a large procurement transformation programme as outlined in the recent high level review of Public Procurement by John mcClelland ( mcClelland Report). eProcurement Scotland sits at the heart of this using the technologies afforded by eProcurement to lock best practice into place. Additionally ePS is an active participant in a number of European groups( IDABC Group, NES) which aim to promote eprocurement solutions and best practice to assist Member States in meeting the i2010 targets. As leader in the field of eProcurement the ePS programme team is best placed to influence and share experiences across Europe helping to remove barriers to cross border trade and promote business growth and innovation with particular focus on the SME sector.
Description of target users and groups
The Scottish Executive wanted to make the savings and efficiencies of eProcurement achievable across all of the Scottish public sector, including central and local government , Education and the NHS. ePS has integrated with all the major financial management ERP systems and supports on-line billing and payment mechanisms. Payment options through ePS include consolidated invoices, evaluated receipt settlement and embedded government procurement card and more recently electronic invoicing not a one size fits all approach. Since its inception ePS has delivered significant improvements in pay performance to suppliers across all government departments.
Description of the way to implement the initiative
eProcurement Scotland offers not only the technologies to make ePrcurement a success but also the management and coordination of a service on behalf of the whole Scottish Public Sector. The ePS programme has a service management team who's role it is to coordinate and manage the service and technology provider on behalf of all ePS user organisations. This done in partnership with representatives from across user organisations and suppliers who sit on and advise a number of strategic and service management groups. Management of the ePS service is very much a partnership approach between suppliers, user organisations the service providers and the programame team to strive to work together to achieve the best outcomes for all concerned. A robust and transparent system of managment is communicated to all user orgaisations and through attendance a various forums and user groups all organisations have the opportunity to contribute to the development and management of the service. Multi-channel issues: ePs is a fully hosted and managed 24x7x365 eprocurement service for the whole of the Scottish Public Sector which offers a range of transaction methods( including fax, email, cxml) which met the needs of suppliers particularly SME's
Technology solution
ePS has integrated with all the major financial management ERP systems and supports on-line billing and payment mechanisms. Payment options through ePS include consolidated invoices, evaluated receipt settlement and embedded government procurement card and more recently electronic invoicing– not a ‘one size fits all’ approach. ( see attached VISA and Lyreco case studies).
Main results, benefits and impacts
Over £1.2 billion of expenditure and 1.2 million orders have been processed through the service. Each order processed in this way is generating substantial and sustainable time, process and cost savings across the public sector. Since its inception ePS has delivered significant improvements in pay performance to suppliers. Additionally through the use of transactional process savings and purchase payment automations ePS to date has delivered over £70million of savings for the Scottish public sector – saving that have been redirected to frontline services. Furthermore savings generated through the collaborative use of eAuctions has independantly produced real tangiable savings of approximately £6 million for the public sector organisations who use them.ePS is on target to deliver further savings totalling £200million by the end of 2008. All user organisations of ePS report benefits in addition to cost savings, for example: accurate management data; reduction in time from order to acquisition, clear audit trails; improved contract compliance and adherence to business workflows, and resource savings from collaborative contracting. Innovation: In addition to the overall bold concept, the ePS program displays a number of original features that stem directly from the sheer originality of the challenges it was created to address: Change Winning the full benefits of ePS involves a business change program which aims to take the opportunities afforded by eProcurement technology to address a need for change in the ways in which public procurement is managed and practiced. For this reason the Scottish Executive ePS program team, together with the service providers, also offers all the associated planning, consultancy and training services needed for new users to rapidly get started with ePS and to win the full benefits that the ePS service offers without delay. Challenge to Succeed The ePS program is an unqualified success. It has met or exceeded its key quantified objectives: • To achieve at least 50 public sector user organizations signed up to the service by 2007 result: over 75 user organizations as at May 2007 • To achieve at least 150 suppliers signed up to the service by end-2006 result: 35,000 suppliers at end May 2007 • To achieve at least £100m of transaction volume by end-2006 result: £404m achieved to end Feb 06 and £1.2 billion as at April 2007 • To maintain a 24x7x365 service with downtime under 0.25% result: downtime of under 0.15% The program is on track to exceed its fifth quantified objective: To generate at £200m annual sustainable procurement savings by 2008
Return on investment
Return on investment: Not applicable / Not availableTrack record of sharing
As leader in this area ePS is well placed and already shares its experiences with other national and international government bodies assisting them to formulate actions and plans to take forward electronic public procurement for the benefit of both their buying organisations and their suppliers. (see attached Aberdeen group report). The ePS has already received and responded to enquiries about ePS from government officials in England,Denmark, Spain, Norway, Slovenia, Malta, Thailand, Wales, Hungary and Northern Ireland and is happy to work with other administrations to help them win the same benefits that are already being won in Scotland. To assist with this the ePS programme office facilitates best practice user and expert groups, manages a website (www.eprocurementscotland.com) , speak and exhibit at national and international procurement events, produces a regular newsletter, detailed case studies and guidance materials providing all the latest information news and relevant experience needed to make eProcurement a success ( see recent newsletter). ePS works with other EC Member States promoting eprocurement solutions and best practice to assist Member States in meeting the i2010 targets. ePS attends and actively partipates at IDABC eProcurement experts meetings sharing best practice, and providing contributions in the IDABC workplan. ePs also attends Northern European Subset (NES) Steering Group together with Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Iceland, Finland, UK. witht the aim of promoting eProcurement standards for adoption by Public and Private Sector organisationsand facilitating electronic trade through low cost solutions. Such solutions remove barriers to cross border trade and promote business growth and innovation with particular focus on SME.
Lessons learnt
• eProcurement Scotland is not a technology implementation it is a change management programame which uses the etools afforded by technology as a catalyst to address the ways in which public procurement is practiced and managed. It uses these tools to lock best practices in place • By faciliating an environment for consultation and collaboration a wide range of diverse public sector organisations can work together to achieve results which benefit not only their own organisations but also the suppiers who work with them making Scotland one the best and easiest places for suppliers to do business with the public sector. • For eProcurement to succeed within organisations commitmnet has to be gained not only from those who lead the organisation but from those who job it is to ‘operationally’ run the organisation. A top down and bottom approach is essential. Recognition that implementing eProcurement is not just a ‘procurement’ initative but that it is one that involves a cross multi fuctional team( Finance, procurement and it) is the key to success . Scope and Scale A key challenge arose from the range and diversity of intended user organizations. The service was developed by adopting an intensive program of wide consultation, by the co-opting of user organization and supplier-side staff onto the project team, and by careful and thorough identification of stakeholders and their needs.
Scope: Regional (sub-national)