Public sector strategic sourcing

A Client Case Study

The NSW state government appointed the Department of Commerce (DoC) to lead a whole-of-government strategic sourcing program to improve sourcing efficiencies and effectiveness, as well as reduce cost. Working with the management team of one of the largest public sector organisations, the team from DoC had identified over 40 initiatives along with savings targets and owners.

Shortly afterwards, inertia and resistance to the program set in at this highly unionised, complex and conservative organisation, whose managers saw other organisational priorities such as safety and service delivery as being more important than achieving sourcing savings.

Stephanie from Strategy2Life was appointed to work with the DoC team to implement the strategic sourcing program and achieve savings targets committed to by top management. She identified a number of issues with the program setup at the organisation and proceeded to restructure the program, effectively re-initiating it.

Working with her team of 3 staff, the program sponsors, the DoC team, and other key stakeholders, Stephanie:

  • Redesigned the program and initiative governance structure, which included a steering committee with 6 of the CEO’s 8 direct reports;
  • Developed a roadmap for the 40 initiatives, choosing a smaller subset for priority attention to improve focus;
  • Clarified the roles and responsibilities of the initiative owners in the business, the central program team, and the DoC team;
  • Developed change management objectives and strategies to improve buy-in at all levels, including rigorous and regular stakeholder communication and relationship management processes;
  • Developed a benefit realisation and reporting framework, using metrics to foster accountability and celebrate successes;
  • Reported progress regularly to the Board, senior management team and 2 government ministries.

The result was that over A$15M per annum savings were achieved, ahead of schedule, at the time of Stephanie handing over the program to business-as-usual owners.

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© 2014 Strategy2Life. This is a genuine client case study. Due to client confidentiality, certain identifying details of the case may have been disguised or omitted.