Contract management: Notoriously bad, or not too bad?

A procurement chief has described the NHS as being “notoriously bad” at managing their contracts, according to a report in the HSJ.

Edward James, a former Department of Health and Social Care official, is now leading efforts to consolidate procurement teams across three acute trusts in Humber and North Yorkshire.

He described the NHS as not dedicating resource to contract management, stating that it is often left to the end user to do, which increases the risks involved.

Liaison Financial offers NHS organisations a review service for their contracts, which ensures that suppliers have managed contracts compliantly, ensuring that maintenance is and has been completed, and that volume discounts and performance penalty payments have been applied where applicable.

Further to this, Liaison Financial has been providing NHS organisations with dedicated resource for many years with its specialist Accounts Payable (AP) service. This resource is comprised of two elements; duplicate invoice identification, and supplier statement reconciliation.

Our AP audit offers a risk-free, end-to-end service, which conducts a detailed analysis of the AP data, identifying overpayments, and recovering the funds back into the organisation for reinvestment.

Since the service began, it has recovered over £65million in overpayments and overcharges for NHS organisations throughout the UK.

Abdul Majid, Head of Financial Management at Liaison Financial, says: “Effectively managing contracts and payments can be incredibly difficult in large and complex organisations, so our team of recovery specialists are on hand to liaise directly with suppliers to resolve any anomalies effectively and efficiently, and also offer appropriate advice and guidance to improve processes for the future.”

So, whilst the contract management at your organisation might be “not too bad” rather than “notoriously bad”, if you feel it could be improved or that a review would be helpful in checking the state of your contracts, please get in touch.