Just two years after it was established East Midlands Property Alliance (empa) has already built itself a solid reputation for delivering results. Formed by local authorities in the East Midlands, empa's role is to improve the delivery of property services;providing guidance on best practice and efficiency savings.

Derby City Council will deliver an impressive £19.2 million in net savings over the next three years as part of their Delivering Efficient Corporate And Transactional Services (DECATS) project. Following a three-year implementation stage the project should then deliver a further £21.4 million per annum from 2014/2015.

Transport teams from Nottinghamshire Councils have been working in partnership since 2005 to generate savings and gain value for money in their procurement of new vehicles and training, devising a ‘single tender process'. Thus far, nine authorities have together made savings of over £1.75 million. Building on the initial procurement strategy for Refuse Collection Vehicles, the consortium has now extended this single tender process to panel vans, training and tyre maintenance.

In taking steps to challenge itself and effect change, Lincolnshire Transport Services Group has achieved significant savings in the past two years. The trial and subsequent introduction of e-auctions as a new model for awarding Public Service Vehicle contracts for school travel has already driven savings of more than £270,000 per academic year. This will total more than £1.3 million over a five-year period, across only 10 e-auctions.