CASE STUDIES

Norwich City Services Limited (NCSL) was established by Norwich City Council in 2021. Initially set up to provide Environmental Services (arboriculture, street cleansing, building cleaning and grounds maintenance), it expanded in April 2022 to include Building Maintenance for the city council’s 15,000 council homes and other buildings.

NCSL now has around 400 employees, most of whom are peripatetic and carry out operational duties in parks, streets and in and around people’s homes.

TPPL supported Norwich City Services to tender for the contract-hire of vehicles, mostly panel vans, for the Building Maintenance service, supply of after-sales conversions for those vehicles (internal racking solutions, LED safety lighting & markings and health & safety adaptions) through respective tender processes and assisted with the direct award of a telematics device and service supplier.

With TPPL’s guidance, a preferred choice of manufacturer was identified, enabling TPPL to pre-order the desired vehicles. This expedient approach to ordering meant lead times were significantly reduced once the contract-hire and conversion tender processes were concluded. From the contract-hire contract being awarded in November 2021, nearly a hundred vehicles went into service from 1 April, with additional Tippers scheduled for delivery shortly after.

Simon Partridge, Project Manager, Community Services at Norwich City Council commented:

“At a time of global supply shortages, thanks to the information, guidance, and assistance from Peter and his team at TPPL, we were ready, on day one, with the vehicles we needed to deliver our building maintenance service.”

Key successes:

• Significantly reduced vehicle delivery lead times through collaborative working across multiple suppliers
• Using a letter of surety to enable ordering of vehicles as soon as possible
• Early engagement with suppliers and a consultative approach enabling a high quality, on time, fit for purpose fleet and ongoing management programme to be procured
• Supported, robust procurement, using expert, industry information and advice, to secure value for money outcomes with enhanced discounts, negotiated with the supply chain
• Establishing new, and building on existing relationships to provide for a successful roll out of vehicles following supported contract implementation.