Report of the Local Government Efficiency Review Group

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(b) works. Minor works are contracted in accordance with these procurement plans. These set out requirements to obtain competitive quotations from suppliers for small contracts, with public advertisement and advertisement on e-tenders generally for contracts above €50,000, as well as compliance with the procedures required under the EU Procurement Directives for contracts above the EU thresholds. 9.5.5 Materials are procured through a combination of written quotations, tenders, e-tenders, LAQuotes, Low Value Purchase (LVP) cards and fuel cards. The LVP card is a specific form of charge card for the purchase of low value but frequently purchased goods and services. The card while similar in operation to a credit card, has inbuilt limits on individual transaction value, monthly combined transaction value and category of business in which it may be used. The effect is to substantially reduce transaction costs thereby providing a more efficient and cost-effective method of handling purchases and the related payment procedures. 9.5.6 Almost two-thirds of expenditure under the heading of materials is spent on roads, with the majority of the remainder spent on water services. The principal materials used in roads are bitumen, road chippings, and road salt. Road chippings are procured through LAQuotes, and bitumen and related products through LABitumen (a specialist procurement vehicle for these products as the price of these tends to fluctuate more regularly). 9.5.7 Road salt is bought by local authorities on an individual basis and annual usage is about 50,000 tons at a cost of approximately €10 million. Due to the severe weather conditions which affected Ireland in December 2009– January 2010, there were difficulties in securing supply of salt. Many local authorities were effectively placed in direct competition with one another because of the high demand for road salt and a shortage of supply. Because of this situation the procurement of road salt was moved on a temporary basis to the National Roads Authority. The Group considers that a repeat of this situation should be avoided and measures put in place to move this procurement function to the National Roads Authority on a permanent basis. 9.5.8 Chemicals, including aluminium sulphate, and fluoride for water treatment are procured from LAQuotes. 9.5.9 All local authorities have tendered or are going to tender for their electricity supply and contracts have been awarded to Bord Gais, ESB, and Airtricity. In some authorities, all three are suppliers. Tenders were secured on a joint basis, with counties grouping together to purchase electricity in the majority of cases. It is estimated that savings of €5 million were made in 2009 due to the tendering process and this is expected to rise to €10 million in 2010. In addition, a number of local authorities have established joint energy bodies to carry out energy audits, promote renewable energy and energy efficiency, and reduce the carbon footprint of local government. Savings of 3% per annum are targeted for each of the next 10 years equating to €3 million per annum for local authorities. 106
9.5.10 LAQuotes is used by the vast majority of local authorities for plant and machinery hire. Very specific small jobs are tendered separately as are tenders for long term hire as better value is achieved in this manner. 9.5.11 There is also considerable use of regional procurement in different parts of the country. The example of joint procurement of energy is noted above. Professional fees for environment and water services are procured on a regional basis in Dublin. The West of Ireland Local Authority Procurement Network Group (which includes Roscommon, Galway City Council, Galway County Council, Leitrim County Council and Mayo County Council) is currently looking at joint tendering for water chemicals and heating oil. 9.5.12 The Group recommends that local authorities should examine other opportunities for joint procurement to increase the purchasing power of local government – this process will be facilitated in a number of local authorities through the establishment of joint administrative areas (see section 6.4), but should where appropriate extend to the regional and national procurement of items. Regional procurement specialists from the National Procurement Service (see below) should work with a number of local authorities in each region to encourage the identification and exploitation of opportunities for more effective procurement co-operation and co-ordination across local authorities and the broader public sector, and should coordinate their efforts across multiple regions and at a sector level. 9.6 The National Procurement Service 9.6.1 The National Public Procurement Operations Unit (NPPOU) was established by Government decision in April 2009, with the name later changed to the National Procurement Service (NPS). The NPS, based in the Office of Public Works in Trim, subsumes all functions of the former Government Supplies Agency. These functions include: • Organising the procurement of common goods and services; • Providing professional procurement advice; • Assisting in specialist procurement projects; • Organising networks of public service procurement professionals; • Developing targeted and accredited training and education; • Establishing appropriate links with procurement in Northern Ireland; • Operating and developing the e-tenders system; • Integrating the whole-of-Government policies and issues into procurement practice. 9.6.2 The intended clients of the NPS are civil service Departments and offices, local authorities, the education sector, the health sector and state agencies. The overall procurement strategy being pursued by the NPS is to: • Determine top spend areas; 107
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Report of the Local Government Effi
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5. Organisational Efficiency Issues
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14. Recommendations 14.1 Recommenda
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associated Government Statement, ne
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more focussed than previously on mu
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ating town councils is largely repr
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• The provision of quality custom
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1.7 Compliance Requirements on Loca
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2.1 National Public Finances 2. Bud
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Figure 2.2 - Total Local Authority
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evenue were needed for the local go
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Figure 2.3 - Sources of Local Autho
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Figure 2.4 -Sources of Local Author
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Figure 2.5 - Local Authority Curren
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Payroll Expenses Table 2.4 - Breakd
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2. Reintroducing domestic water cha
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Income €m € 1,600.0 € 1,400.0
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3. Local Government Experience of E
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maintenance are provided by the cou
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well as reductions in the number of
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4. Context - Looking Forward 4.1 Na
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4.2.6 Aside from keeping costs down
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5. Organisational Efficiency Issues
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statutorily vested in certain ratin
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5.5.6 Roads are classified into nat
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the majority of town councils, a pl
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5.7 Other Local Bodies 5.7.1 A smal
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Page 57 and 58: Figure 6.1 - Local Authority Staff
Page 59 and 60: Figure 6.2 - Staffing per 1,000 Pop
Page 61 and 62: Figure 6.5 - Staffing Per 1,000 Pop
Page 63 and 64: Cluster Data Cluster Mayo Roscommon
Page 65 and 66: senior management staff - for examp
Page 67 and 68: ut this figure varies from 22% to 5
Page 69 and 70: eplacement with lower level staff w
Page 71 and 72: Corporate Services, HR, IT, and Fin
Page 73 and 74: to provide services in the corporat
Page 75 and 76: Recommendations: 6.11.1 In summary,
Page 77 and 78: 7.1 Local Government Audit 7. Value
Page 79 and 80: through open recruitment. Opportuni
Page 81 and 82: the Director and relevant local gov
Page 83 and 84: 7.6.3 Local authorities should cons
Page 85 and 86: 8. Shared Services 8.1 Shared Servi
Page 87 and 88: 8.2.6 Many parts of the United Stat
Page 89 and 90: 8.4 Shared ‘Back Office’ Servic
Page 91 and 92: 8.4.12 For example, recruitment to
Page 93 and 94: approach which will be used to asse
Page 95 and 96: enefits in terms of pooling resourc
Page 97 and 98: while also improving the service fo
Page 99 and 100: Implementation Group suggested in s
Page 101 and 102: 9.2.4 The Local Government e-Procur
Page 103 and 104: forms are now captured online. This
Page 105: Table 9.1 - Non-Pay Items Procured
Page 109 and 110: sectoral level, to promote exchange
Page 111 and 112: 10.1 Housing 10. Efficiencies in Pr
Page 113 and 114: 10.1.9 Two issues arise in this res
Page 115 and 116: that may arise in this respect as p
Page 117 and 118: the new Housing and Sustainable Com
Page 119 and 120: 10.2.6 To date, the emphasis of tol
Page 121 and 122: 10.2.14 The Group also noted the la
Page 123 and 124: • Allocating grants to improve th
Page 125 and 126: 10.3.11 It would also facilitate th
Page 127 and 128: consumption (see also section 9 in
Page 129 and 130: Financial Summary: Through a combin
Page 131 and 132: current levels of resourcing for pl
Page 133 and 134: educe the number of such transactio
Page 135 and 136: Financial Summary: Through a combin
Page 137 and 138: in the trend of rationalisation of
Page 139 and 140: Table 10.1 - Motor Taxation Classes
Page 141 and 142: detail in issuing licences. Motor t
Page 143 and 144: 11.1 Treasury Management 11. Other
Page 145 and 146: for the overdraft, has the potentia
Page 147 and 148: • The online Roadworks Control sy
Page 149 and 150: management, etc. Use of professiona
Page 151 and 152: • Projects to streamline existing
Page 153 and 154: 12. Local Government and the Wider
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City Enterprise Boards with county/
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suggests that financial incentives
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13. Cost Recovery and Revenue Issue
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13.1.11 The Group considers that th
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Minister for Education and Skills t
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legislation provides that arrears o
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Recommendations: 13.5.1 In summary,
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14.1 Recommendations 14. Recommenda
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25. Financial performance indicator
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Housing 48. Housing sections within
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Planning monitoring by other public
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Local Government and the Wider Publ
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that just because these recommendat
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Appendix 1 - List of Submissions Re
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Appendix 2 - Local Government Effic
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Gross Current Income by Source and
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County Councils Housing and Buildin
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Town Councils Housing and Building
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Non-Rating Town Councils (1) Paymen
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Regional Assembly Payments Receipts
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Local Authority Current Expenditure
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Town Council Population Size (Censu
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Appendix 5 - Local Government Net B
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Former Town Commissioners 2010 Net
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Appendix 7 - Performance Indicators
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Appendix 9 - Unaccounted for Water
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Appendix 11 - Membership of County
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Report of the Local Government Efficiency Review Group

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