Case study

Council saves on print requirements through single sourcing and supporting the local economy

Wakefield Council has achieved significant savings on its print requirements and supported the local economy through a Crown Commercial Service framework.

Managed Print

The requirement

Wakefield Council wanted to appoint a single print supplier to help achieve cashable savings on its print spend. With a wide variety of print products in its portfolio, it was essential to engage with an experienced supplier who had the capability to manage a vendor neutral supply chain, which means they do not supply print services themselves, they act as the sourcing agent. It was also important that the solution was able to support the local economy.

To achieve this the council chose to use the Crown Commercial Service Wider Public Sector Print Services framework.

The solution

Following a further competition through the framework, CDS was appointed to provide a fully managed print solution for the council.

This included an end-to-end solution covering all types of print such as lithographic, digital, web, No Carbon Required sets, stationery, promotional items, envelopes, display items and variable data.

CDS provided technical expertise and guidance on all aspects of the council’s print specifications, distribution and postage to suggest more cost effective solutions to deliver each requirement. The council was able to standardise print sizes and the range of materials used to minimise waste during print production, reducing environmental impact and saving money. Advice was given on the use of eCommunications and digital channels, where relevant, for further cost savings.

In addition, vetting and onboarding of the council’s incumbent printers took place to support the local economy, whilst providing the council with value assurances through benchmarking against the wider UK print marketplace.

The results

In the first year of the contract, technical advice and effective market testing yielded approximately £56,000 of savings.

The following year, the council’s eCommunications team was tasked with finding £100,000 of savings across all channels to help meet the council’s budget challenge. The team worked closely with CDS to review their printed materials, including moving to digital channels. This provided around £83,000 of savings - a significant budget contribution.

The council continued to work closely with council stakeholders to examine all printed communications to find further savings. By combining technological advances and industry best practice, this partnership delivered in the region of £62,000 of additional savings to the council.

“The managed print service provider model is a new service delivery method for the provision of external print at Wakefield Council. The contract has achieved significant cashable savings, along with non-cashable efficiencies due to only having one supplier to manage.

“In our experience, the CDS team provide a professional service and have a wealth of knowledge available to ensure that the best solution is provided for each print requirement.

An excellent level of support was provided by the Crown Commercial Service who guided us through the procurement process and the award of the contract with CDS.”

Neil Warren, Chief Finance Manager, Wakefield Council

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Published 12 September 2017