Falklands : St. Helena's Outsourcing Update
Submitted by Falkland Islands News Network (Juanita Brock) 11.02.2008 (Article Archived on 25.02.2008)

The Outsourcing Policy and Procedures and the Outsourcing Programme were approved by Executive Council on 4 September 2007.

Outsourcing Update

The Outsourcing Policy and Procedures and the Outsourcing Programme were approved by Executive Council on 4 September 2007. Following this, the Acting Chief Secretary appointed the relevant committees as recommended in the Outsourcing Policy and the Contracts and External Services Manager worked with the Public Health and Social Services Department, Education Department and Agriculture and Natural Resources Department to launch the pilot programme.

The Business Case Review Group (BCRG) was appointed on 8 October 2007. Members include the Accountant (Financial Planning & Analysis), the Chief Human Resources Officer, the Development Economist and the Contracts and External Services Manager (Chair). This group will review all business cases and provide advice to the Chief Secretary who will make the final decision on whether a particular function should be outsourced or not.

The members of the group were selected for their specific expertise. The Accountant FPA will consider the financial implications of an outsourcing proposal, the Chief Human Resources Officer will look at the impact of the proposal on staffing and on the Public Service in general and the Development Economist will look at economic issues emanating from the proposal and their impact. The Contract and External Services Manager has a co-ordinating role and will ensure that all recommendations from this group are followed up.

The first meeting of the BCRG was held on 15 October 2007. At this meeting the group met to discuss the business cases for the first three outsourcing pilots (Laundry Service – PHSSD, Sawmill Service – ANRD, Grounds and Maintenance Service – EDUC). All three business cases were recommended to the Acting Chief Secretary for endorsement. The group also recommended that all three contracts should be for a minimum of five years to encourage investors and give a reasonable period of time to gain a return on any investment they might make.

Following approval from the Acting Chief Secretary, the three pilots were launched with the placing of Public Notices in local papers inviting expressions of interest. Expressions of Interest were received from people interested in providing a sawmill service and a grounds maintenance service; unfortunately nobody indicated an interest in providing a laundry service. It is planned that this will be re-advertised shortly. All people/organisations who expressed an interest in the grounds maintenance and sawmill services and who submitted a pre-qualifying questionnaire have now been evaluated and those who prequalify will be invited to tender for the service. SHG envisages that these functions will be outsourced early in the new financial year.

The Outsourcing Steering Committee was appointed on 23 November 2007. This group, which is chaired by the Deputy Chief Secretary, consists of the Accountant FP&A, the Chief Human Resources Officer, the Development Economist, the Managing Director SHDA, a representative from the Chamber of Commerce, and the Contracts and External Services Manager.  The remit of this group is to provide strategic advice and recommendations to Government on the SHG Outsourcing Programme with a view to overseeing the development and implementation of the programme. The group met for the first time on 18 January. At this meeting an outsourcing programme for the next financial year was agreed. This programme (shown below) takes account of targets set in the Sustainable Development Plan and is derived from the Outsourcing Programme approved by Executive Council in September 2007.

It is planned that these activities will be outsourced to the private sector before the end of the next financial year 2008 - 2009.

Outsourcing provides an exciting opportunity for private sector development. The majority of services to be outsourced will offer prospects for expansion and diversification which private sector service operators can take advantage of whilst still having the guarantee of providing a service to the Government for the duration of the contract.

Public Relations/Information Office

Office of the Chief Secretary

5 February 2008

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