At least I am getting to the bottom of the reasons why the City Council spends so much money on getting simple things done.
It all comes down to being governed by budgets rather than value for money. Hence we end up spending the budget rather than checking what we are paying for is value for money.
One of the key changes has to be to get a concentration on unit costs as part of value for money. The expensive carpet in the Labour Group Offices was spectacularly expensive for five reasons:
a) It was top of the range carpet
b) It was patterned so there was 30% waste
c) The work was done out of hours
d) The price was not competitive to start out with it being on a mixed schedule of rates
e) It was done on a "money no object" basis.
I am gradually getting to the bottom of the figures. Whether it was 2, 2 1/2 or 3 times the real market price is not clear. What is the case is that we need to be a lot more cost effective in how we do things within the City Council.
This is clearly the case in other public bodies managed as they are in similar ways.
It all comes down to being governed by budgets rather than value for money. Hence we end up spending the budget rather than checking what we are paying for is value for money.
One of the key changes has to be to get a concentration on unit costs as part of value for money. The expensive carpet in the Labour Group Offices was spectacularly expensive for five reasons:
a) It was top of the range carpet
b) It was patterned so there was 30% waste
c) The work was done out of hours
d) The price was not competitive to start out with it being on a mixed schedule of rates
e) It was done on a "money no object" basis.
I am gradually getting to the bottom of the figures. Whether it was 2, 2 1/2 or 3 times the real market price is not clear. What is the case is that we need to be a lot more cost effective in how we do things within the City Council.
This is clearly the case in other public bodies managed as they are in similar ways.
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