The outsourcing industry – including contact centres, data companies and bureaux providers – could be in line for a £60bn increase in Government contracts on the back of Coalition plans to explore the money saving potential of farming out business.
The All Party Outsourcing & Shared Services Group was first talked about in May and will meet on August 23, chaired by Conservative MP Bob Blackman. It will investigate how the public sector can get more out of outsourcing and shared services.
“The group believes that a deeper look into the potential of outsourcing and shared services to help deliver savings across the public sector would be welcomed by the Coalition,” said a statement from the National Outsourcing Association (NOA) promoting the event.
“By looking at projects that have worked on time and delivered savings, the group hopes to draw out common themes that can form a best practice guide for procurement officials and government. The group will also look into projects that have not worked, and decide what lessons can be drawn from these,” said the NOA.
The group wants evidence and case studies from outsourcing and shared services suppliers. Evidence should be emailed to admin@noa.co.uk with “Evidence” in the subject line, before 10am on August 22.
Martyn Hart, chairman of The NOA, welcomed the establishment of the group: “This is a wonderful opportunity for our members to contribute meaningfully to the debate. It gives them chance to showcase their best practice examples and success stories, helping the public sector investigate how to outsource smarter.”
In May last year Seymour Pierce analyst Caroline de La Soujeole said government cuts might hurt outsourced service providers in the short term but that in the long term it will mean more public services being outsourced.
She said at the time that a “golden age of outsourcing awaits” as the government turns to the private sector to get more efficiency for taxpayers’ cash. De La Soujeole said 14% by value – some £80bn – of public sector services are outsourced but she thinks that could exceed £140bn by 2015.
