An innovative approach to improving services while reducing costs is being taken forward by Cardiff Council.
A number of long term partnerships are being established to bring in expertise from the private sector to work alongside the Council at the same time as strengthening relationships with other public services.
The first of these, a partnership with international IT specialists Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) is now being finalised. TCS will bring their experience of improving information systems in over 42 countries to Cardiff and will work with the Council to create a new ‘Innovation Centre’ to develop new ways of working and build on the success of C2C ‘Connect to Cardiff‘.
This partnership, which will not involve any Council staff being transferred to the private sector, will also help to make savings in spending on technology such as hardware and software as well as enable the Council raise money through the development of technology-enabled products.
This innovative partnership approach is now being turned to other areas of the Council. A series of forums is being arranged to hear ideas from potential partners on how they could support service development in areas such as schools, social services, transport and leisure, as well as the continuing economic regeneration of the city.
The successful partners will work closely alongside the Council’s existing services to identify efficiency savings and to help create new platforms to support joined-up working across the council and with other organisations and partners.
This new approach will improve the quality of services delivered to citizens and provide better access through a variety of new and existing channels.
Councillor Mark Stephens, Executive Member for Finance and Service Delivery, said: “We have been very clear in Cardiff about the challenging economic situation affecting all local authorities, which is why I am pleased that we are making good progress in finding solutions to the problems we face.
“By bringing in the best of the private sector we will be able to improve services and save money as well as ensure that we are protecting existing jobs.
“The establishment of these partnerships is part of the wider change programme which is driven by the aim of providing customers, citizens and communities with more choice and better services.
“The Council has a long and successful track record of working in partnership with the private sector to deliver significant regeneration in the city centre and at the International Sports Village. We are now using this experience to look at how we can make the Council more accessible and address disadvantage by having the flexibility to shift resources to the other services we deliver.”
The selection of partners will be through the OJEU Competitive Dialogue process and will be supported by the use of e-tendering and online bid evaluation in partnership with Value Wales.
