Case Studies 1

Avenue UK provides professional strategic assistance in delivering operational and procurement projects.

These case studies provide a snapshot of selected projects and demonstrate the wide range of assignments and projects we have undertaken:

 

Huge Cost Challenge: This project delivered a supplier cost reduction programme for a major global bank covering £3bn of spend.  It established and delivered: 1) assessment and validation of over 600 opportunities.  2) governance structures and forums for progression of projects. 3) programme communication/reporting to various stakeholders. The programme delivered a cost saving of just over £200m.

Transformation and Change Agenda: This project, for a major global bank, managed the delivery of their 2010 Improvement Agenda. It involved mobilising and managing the delivery of 37 improvement projects owned by senior stakeholders. An independent assessment confirmed that the function had moved from 3rd to 1st quartile using an industry wide form of measurement.  A further project was the establishment; coordination and programme management of a number of CPO sponsored collaboration forums across the bank’s three global sourcing functions.

Architectural Services: This project involved the selection of three architectural practices with global coverage to enter into framework agreements to provide their services on a global basis to an investment bank.  This project formalised the supply arrangements as well as providing a ‘menu’ style specification by which a range of services are supplied.  The contract provides price certainty and incorporates a management information tool that predicts, benchmarks and tracks professional fees.  Year one savings on fees exceeded £150k.

Workplace Strategy: Following on from the Architectural Services project, the objective of this project was to develop a set of analysis and reporting tools as well as design guidelines for use by the client and their design professionals.

These design tools serve as a common platform by which project information is gathered, analysed and disseminated. They range from tools used at project initiation to post occupancy evaluation.

The reporting tools included the banks target for each key metric and provided the architects the means by which to demonstrate that designs and planning would meet these targets.  The design guidelines contain best practice strategies, and provide for a consistent design approach, but not prescriptive space standards by grade.  It was estimated that application of this approach and meeting the target metrics would result in an annual saving exceeding €100M.

Cleaning and Associated Services: This project covered 55 sites and involved the analysis, multistage tendering and appointment of contractors for:

• Daily Office Cleaning – regionally
• Technical Area Cleaning – nationally
• Consumables – nationally
• Washroom Rentals – nationally
• Pest Control – nationally

This project delivered a £750k/annum reduction from a base cost of £3.5M/annum whilst reducing contractors from 250+ to three, and provided a specification ‘bible’ from which to create localised specifications.  To ensure that those at site level were fully engaged in the process, each of the regional tenders were marked by a team which included site managers from that region.

Catering Services: This project involved 18 contracts across 13 sites covering

• Staff restaurants (plus vending)
• Training centre catering
• General meeting hospitality, and
• Fine dining

The project delivered service improvement and a £2.7M/annum saving from a base cost of £7.5M/annum, which included £500k/annum through VAT reclaim by the introduction of a ‘user pays and reclaim’ policy integrated into the firms online expense claims system.

It achieved separation of the Staff dining (on commercial terms) from other catering types and introduced strict financial management for all types of catering through the introduction of a bespoke financial reporting model.

Property Management: Avenue reviewed the service charge operation for a leading managing agent seeking advice on current best practice and an implementation plan to deliver improved efficiency of their management operation. The review included all internal departments and processes and a detailed study of 27 locations.  Recommendations encompassed all aspects of the business operation and a range of improvement opportunities for the client:

• A cohesive approach to the specification, procurement and management of services and suppliers.
• Greater budgetary control
• Streamlined internal processes
• A reduction of suppliers (60%+) and invoices (80%)
• Better management information
• Reduced costs (15%)

Furniture: Working for a European corporate to define and procure a framework contract for the supply of office furniture to cover all grades of staff in a number of countries.  Working with the Procurement department and Corporate Real Estate team to define the requirement and the route to market.   Supply to the client was over a number of years with an initial spend of €20m.

Telecommunications: This client had recently doubled its size through a market acquisition.  Avenue undertook an appraisal of the Fixed (landline) and Mobile voice and data services, to review the effectiveness and efficiency of each legacy company’s arrangements. From the information obtained, we benchmarked the existing suppliers against other proven suppliers, and developed a telecommunications strategy to meet the current and future business needs.

With an annualised spend of £356k this project delivered a saving of £86k, a reduction in financial and technical administration, a consolidation of supplier arrangements and a large reduction in financial administration.

Energy Procurement and Management: This project involved the specification and tendering for the role of an energy support company.  The purpose of the contract was twofold.  Firstly, the supplier was to competitively procure Gas and Electricity (in this area, year one savings of £350K were generated on client ‘owned’ sites).  Secondly the supplier’s role included the provision of building energy audits and advice on reducing usage, through user action and M&E considerations.  Finally, the supplier’s role included evaluating procurement of energy contracts by landlords (who charged back to the client via service charges), to ensure best value was being obtained.

Printed material: Working with a major national charity, we provide procurement support across their operation.  Key projects include a re-branding process, and procurement processes (and operational procedures) for competitively purchasing printed material, signage etc (performed on an ongoing basis). Other projects have included a mailing house and a fulfilment contract to handle over 1.5m items per annum and a contract for mailroom equipment and multifunctional devices.

Annual printing costs have reduced by over 30% on an annual £400K spend.

Business Supplies: Working for an Insurance client using a multitude of suppliers, the objective of this project was to consolidate spend, reduce suppliers and invoices, and to reduce expenditure.  The eventual contract was for the provision of:

• General stationery
• Printed stationery
• IT consumables
• Marketing materials

The project consolidated supply arrangements and delivered a 30% saving on a £500k per annum spend.

The saving was in part through leveraging the contract value, but also through utilising on-line web based ordering, on-line approvals and catalogue restriction (as set by the client on a user by user basis).

IT Support: This contract involved the specification and tendering for the provision of IT support.  The solution delivered an enhanced IT support contract tailored to the clients business needs and provided ongoing management information to enable the client to effectively monitor the service.  In addition, Avenue UK was able to specify and secure a disaster recovery solution to meet (and protect) the clients growing business needs.

Construction and Project Management: Working for a FTSE100 house builder we project managed the design, construction, fit-out and occupation of a stand-alone marketing suite with a project value of £2m.  The project included working with numerous government and planning agencies as well as appointing and managing the professional team and main contractor.  This project was completed within 9 months and on budget.

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