Local authorities' link-up adds up to big savings

Councils in Nottinghamshire are set to save nearly £2m by 2013 thanks to a joined up approach to procurement.

The Nottinghamshire Vehicle Consortium, which is made up of nine local authorities has agreed deals for refuse collection vehicles, panel vans and transits, tyre management, driver training and fleet software since it was set up six years.

The latest deal - the procurement of Chevin Fleet Solutions' web-based application FleetWave will save councils in Ashfield, Bassetlaw, Gedling, Mansfield, Newark & Sherwood and Rushcliffe £100,000 over five years.

The remaining members of the consortium - Nottingham City Council, Nottinghamshire County Council and Broxtowe Borough Council - already have contracts in place and chose not to take part in the software deal.

Fleetwave was selected over five other suppliers and the system is expected to go live this month.

Data relating to refuse collection vehicles, road maintenance vehicles, street cleansing vehicles and car derived vans, as well as plant and equipment such as lawn mowers will be captured.

That information will then be integrated into a centralised system that can produce reports on fuel usage, mileage, accidents, maintenance and driver licensing and identify inefficiencies.

This will enable the councils to benchmark their vehicles and other assets against each other to measure performance.

A spokesman for Gedling Borough Council said that the benchmarking will give each authority the ability to compare servicing and breakdown information with other council's operational performance and will result in service improvements and further cost reductions.