Consultancy Value Programme

The Consultancy Value Programme (CVP)

The Consultancy Value Programme (CVP) sets out requirements on departments to harness value from consultancy spend. It includes all the central government departments with significant consultancy spend, working together to agree best practice and approach.

The Programme provides a structured and co-ordinated way of managing departments" use of consultants, and comprises a series of practical toolkits and solutions for procurement professionals to draw on when considering the use of consultants.
Consultancy support has proven central to the successful delivery of many Government projects where no internal resource is available - however procurement in this area can be difficult and complex and it is essential that Government gets this right to ensure consultancy spend is accountable, appropriate and cost effective.

OGC, working in collaboration with government departments, is driving forward a new initiative aimed at strengthening measures to ensure value for money for public sector spend on consultants.

What does CVP comprise of?

• A business case format of essential considerations Departments will have to use when taking on consultants:

Used across Government this will provide a consistent approach to consultancy procurement and improved assurance for its successful delivery. The format enables identification, delivery and measurement of value through the consultancy engagement.

• A revised and consistent definition of consultancy;

Enables right identification of your service requirement - and appropriate selection of the service providers. It will be important to ensure that government has a much better understanding of market structure and segmentation and uses that knowledge to improve the value which is delivered through engagement of the market.

• 'Gate' & Governance

Using a 'Gate' process as part of business case approval to encourage joined up working between commercial/ procurement, HR, finance & business units to deliver vfm from consultancy spend and demand management at source

• Pricing

Improving the visibility of consultancy pricing and the components that dictate price will enable departments to be better informed of the price they should expect to be offered.

• Consultancy Performance Reviews

A standard consultancy performance review will enable departments to identify and capture the value delivered from consultancy assignments.
A common approach to consultancy performance review will also enable departments to share knowledge and experience in order to support better decision making, and to take a collaborative strategic approach to supplier management enabling Government to act as a single customer.

• Training courses

For procurement professionals and commissioners of consultancy assignments in order to develop best practice for buying consultancy services.

Download: Consultancy Toolkit - A guide for local government

Associated Documents:

CVP Factsheet
Business Case Template for the Procurement of Consultants
Business Case Guidance Notes
Business Case Summary Fact Sheet
Guide to Consultancy Pricing

Link to OGC website pages for Professional Services category

 The East Midlands Consultancy Value Programme (CVP)

The CVP is about ensuring a consistent, controlled, and effective use of consultancy within local authorities - making them a more intelligent client.

Programme Objective
- To support the role out and implementation of the nationally developed CVP programme into those participating county and unitary authorities within East Midlands and evidence successful implementation and benefits by use of the CVP assessment tool 
- To offer guidance to District Councils on implementation of the CVP appropriate to their size.

Responsibility
The Head of Procurement at Procurement Lincolnshire will be responsible for delivery of the programme

Delivery
The CVP programme will be delivered by a dedicated Project Officer.

Host
Procurement Lincolnshire will host the Project Officer, and as such will be responsible for pay and any expenses, and for providing professional guidance and managerial support and direction. Procurement Lincolnshire will claim allowable funds against agreed outputs from the EM IEP

Funding
The EM IEP has allocated a budget of £50k. Procurement Lincolnshire will draw funds upon delivery of the following milestones in equal parts
- Initial baseline utilising the NAO assessment tool for Lincolnshire CC
- Establishment of an approved strategy in Lincolnshire
- Establishment of an agreed governance methodology in Lincolnshire CC
- Initial baseline assessment in 5 other county/unitary authorities
- Follow up assessment for Lincolnshire CC
- Follow up assessment for 5 other county/unitary authorities

Time scale
The programme will commence 1 March 2010 and must be completed with 12 months.
The programme will commence in Lincolnshire CC, with other participating authorities following. The programme for other authorities does not depend upon full completion of the implementation in Lincolnshire CC

Overview
The Project Officer will actively embed the CVP into Lincolnshire CC, taking the various nationally developed documents, plans and processes and make them suitable for local authority application. Having done this the Project Officer will then work with nominated individuals from each of the other county / unitary authorities and support them in their implementations.
The Project Officer will also develop a reduced version of the CVP appropriate for Districts spend and use of consultants.

Activity
For Lincolnshire CC the Project Officer will:

- Identify a base line spend within Lincolnshire CC
-  Undertake a baseline assessment of policies and practices (utilising the NAO developed tool)
- Take the nationally developed standard template business case documentation and make them suitable for local authority application
- Develop and have agreed a strategy in respect of consultancy
- Develop and have agreed methods to collect appropriate management information
- Develop and implement an agreed governance mechanism by working with HR, finance, legal, procurement, and business units
- Develop and have agreed business case template documentation
- Ensure mechanisms are in place to identify relevant skilled staff are considered before the use of consultants 
- Facilitate training in respect of business case justification, selection, contract management to appropriate business users within Lincolnshire CC
- Ensure that procurement and commissioning staff have skills and knowledge in procuring consultants
- Ensure the knowledge and visibility of framework contacts for procuring consultants 
- Ensure that contract management practices when employing consultants is embedded 
- Undertake a further assessment of policies and practices having implemented best practice procedures and provide an assessment of the resulting efficiencies using the Treasury approved calculation.
- Establish a working group with the participating authorities.

For other participating county / unitary authorities
The Project Officer will support those participating county / unitary authorities on their implementation programmes. This will involve:

- Mentoring the authority on their implementation programme
- Assisting in the baseline assessment of policies and practices (utilising the NAO tool)
- Sharing documentation, practices, and lessons learnt from the Lincolnshire CC implementation
- Visiting the authority to offer practical support in discussions with employees if required
- Assisting in the follow up assessment of policies and practices recording for results for the project files and reporting purposes

For Districts
The Project Officer will:

- Develop a reduced version of the CVP (in conjunction with OGC)
- Develop and facilitate a workshop explaining the CVP for Districts
- Offer guidance on implementation.

Reporting
- The Project Officer will provide monthly project update reports (one side A4) to the EMIEP.
- The Head of Procurement at Procurement Lincolnshire will report on a regular basis to the County Unitary Heads of Procurement Group
- The Project Officer will provide a case study on successful implementation and lesson learnt.

Liaison
The Project Officer will liaise with the OGC Professional Services Category Management team and attend meetings in London as required.

Responsibilities
Responsibilities of those county / unitary authorities participating alongside Lincolnshire CC.

- It is the responsibility of the participating authority to implement CVP within their authority
- Each authority must provide a key nominated individual to work with the Project Officer and agree a project plan, time scales with the Project Officer
- Each authority must be committed at senior level to implementation of the project.

Participating authorities in addition to Lincolnshire CC are:
1. Leicestershire CC - commencing March 2010
2. Leicester City - commencing March 2010
3. Derbyshire CC - commencing May 2010
4. Northamptonshire CC - commencing May 2010.

Other authorities may commence at a later date.

Responsibilities of District Councils
District Councils can choose to participate in the cut down version of CVP and they will be responsibility for implementation within their authority.

(Agreed 29 January 2010)