A local authority are obliged by government to provide residents with the best but, as NCP Commercial Director Phil Robinson, explains this isn’t a task they need face alone.
Best Value is a serious issue for Local Government and the 1999 Local Government Act imposes a duty of continuous service improvement.
The Act also requires consideration of the competitiveness of service performance in exercising any specific function. For a commercial operator in the service sector, providing a better service at a lower cost achieves two key goals: margin growth and the best guarantee of keeping a contract and, indeed, of winning others.
Advantages of working with the private sector
Is a commercial concern more efficient than the public body? Not necessarily so!
However, it does have a number of advantages:
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It is not limited to a geographic area
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Operation of a number of similar contracts
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It offers economy of scale
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Flexibility with staff deployment
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A dedicated management team.
The other distinct advantage enjoyed by the commercial sector is that it is much freer to invest capital, reducing operating cost and offering a good return on investment over the contract life.
Given the arduous goals of continuous improvement the risks involved are real. In any partnership deal it is the private sector that accepts the majority of these risks.
Working together
In the vast majority of contracts, it is not a case of handing over to the private sector, but rather partnering with them and having a clear understanding of what drives each party.
