Spend less to acquire value
that meets your needs

Consulting

We are consultative and collaborative. Agreeing specific objectives, valuable outcomes, key responsibilities and timing helps clients maximise the contribution to their business and personal goals. Our enthusiasm knows no bounds for the outstanding results that well thought out and well managed commercial purchasing activities can achieve.

Where possible we avoid fees for time and tasks, preferring to agree on an investment for a specific project or retained service. This helps to achieve better results, as all parties concentrate on the work and not watching clocks or checking budgets.

Philosophy

We have a straightforward aim; to help clients improve the results they achieve, which will ultimately improve the condition of their organisation. Nothing is sacred there is always potential to improve and achieve better results.

Some examples of what we do

Tender support

For South Bucks District Council's £17 million refuse collection and recycling contract we worked closely with officers and councillors to formulate a project specific procurement strategy. This included developing an accurate price model, tailoring our PQQ and writing tender documents. Our commercial approach helped them to save £217,000 a year, up to £1.5 million over the duration of the new contract, to confound all expectations, as prices amongst peers were rising not falling.

Strategic review - discovering potential

For the London Borough of Waltham Forest we did a strategic review of procurement to unearth their potential to improve, by challenging their current performance and results. This involved consulting with a wide range of individuals each having a different type and level of influence on the council's potential to achieve better results. We were then able to pinpoint specific areas where improving performance would achieve disproportionately better results. Read how a strategic review would improve your organisation's potential to significantly improve the value you acquire from suppliers.

Pre-Qualification Questionnaires (PQQ)

For the Local Government Association's (LGA) £80 million multi-discipline support service outsourcing contract we tailored a PQQ complete with evaluation process, scoring methodology and recording mechanism. This helped to select the best suppliers, one of whom was awarded a contract that will save the LGA many millions and supply more effective services.

Procurement specific strategy

For Northampton County Council we developed a procurement strategy and tender documents to purchase children's foster and residential care services from privately owned companies, not-for-profit organisations and charities. Using a baseline, determined from an analysis of spend data and the use of price models, we were also able carry out intermediate negotiations, which resulted in a net benefit of £600,000 over two years for the council.

Price and cost modelling

For South Bucks we developed a detailed price model for their refuse collection and recycling contract. We modelled prices for different specifications to help formulate a project procurement strategy and determine the council's potential to save cash (ultimately £1.5 million over seven-years). The price model was used to submit tender prices and is also used to track and manage all financial aspects of the contract.

Specifications

For the LGA we facilitated the development of an outcome specification to outsource multiple support services, including Finance, Procurement, HR, Print & Design and Facilities. This enabled potential suppliers to use all their expertise and experience to tender their best services, and for the LGA to benefit from this.

Spend data analysis

For the London Borough of Redbridge we showed them how to analyse their spend data using widely available software that they already owned. There was no need to buy expensive software or analysis services. They can now analyse spend data at any time and track, in real time, the impact of new contracts and changes in purchasing behaviour. See how we can help you to analyse your spend data and achieve similar results.

Buying consultancy

For a London Centre of Excellence (LCE) funded project we authored a how to guide titled "A Guide to Buying Consultancy, and Other Professional Services". We developed it to be straightforward, concise and particularly valuable for individual purchases of up to £75,000. It provides practical and relevant support for buyers of consultancy, and other professional services (for example architects, solicitors, barristers and quantity surveyors), to help them achieve valuable outcomes.

Contract review

For Chiltern District Council we reviewed the future of a Paper Sort Facility that sorts waste paper collected by the councils that own the facility. This was complex in that it included contracts to purchase and contracts to sell. An accurate cost and price model allowed us to forecast the result of different scenarios and provided suitable evidence for our recommendations, which the council accepted and acted on.

On-call support - retained service

Macmillan Cancer Support has retained Qualitar for three years to provide an all encompassing procurement advice and support service. We provide each department with advice and active hands-on support to help them buy more value at a lower cost, so they have more to spend on achieving their charitable objectives. A key result is a projected saving of £500,000 a year from a reduction in the price of recruiting and employing temporary and permanent employees. Find out how a retained service can help you achieve your potential.