The City and County of Swansea Takes Advantage of Collaborative Procurement to Drive Efficiencies and Savings

9th AUGUST 2010, LONDON, UK - ProcServe, a leading provider of strategic collaborative procurement and electronic trading solutions, today announced that the City and County of Swansea has become the latest Public Sector organisation to join the xchangewales Trading Network. The City and County of Swansea has embarked on a major long-term programme to increase the use of electronic procurement throughout the local authority by joining xchangewales eTrading, sponsored by the Welsh Assembly Government and delivered by ProcServe.

xchangewales is an award winning programme that allows all public sector organisations in Wales to source, tender, evaluate, order and pay for goods and services at a click of a button. The electronic tools and web-based services help to improve efficiency, increase productivity and lower the cost of doing business. xchangewales eTrading, is based on the Zanzibar service for UK Public Sector organisations, also delivered by ProcServe, and will benefit Swansea by releasing significant savings for reinvestment and enabling the Council to make more informed procurement decisions.

The roll-out of xchangewales eTrading throughout the Council will enable end-to-end paperless procurement workflow. Purchase orders will be generated electronically going forward and local and regional suppliers will be able to flip this information into an electronically generated invoice. The Council will also have the potential to trade electronically with over 5,000 suppliers who are already active on the marketplace and enabled to handle electronic invoices.

"The need for efficiency savings, especially in purchasing is now of paramount importance for all Public Sector organisations including our Council," explains Simon Griffiths, Director of Procurement for the City and County of Swansea. "We believe this programme will have a positive impact and will support a reduction in our overall purchasing bill. By joining the eMarketplace, it will also help us engage more effectively with our suppliers across the region, as well as with all the suppliers already on the network."

Mike Melville, Programme Manager of the Welsh Assembly Government xchangewales programme noted: "In the current economic climate where efficiencies are at the forefront of all Public Sector organisations' agenda, xchangewales eTrading offers real benefits to its users - both buyers and suppliers. Here, the City and County of Swansea can take advantage of savings available through regional and national framework contracts and create efficiencies through faster order and invoice processes."

Veera Johnson, CEO of ProcServe, commented: "We are delighted to welcome the City and County of Swansea as the most recent member to join our trading community and xchangewales eTrading. Being a member will enable the Council to fully automate their procurement process while capturing all spend management information to make more effective purchasing decisions."

Media Contact:
Cora Byrne, ProcServe
T: +44(0)7889 996 345
E: cora.byrne@procserve.com

About the City and County of Swansea
The City and County of Swansea Council is the governing body for one of the Principal Areas of Wales covering Swansea, Gower and the surrounding area. The council consists of 72 councillors representing 36 electoral wards. For more information, please visit www.swansea.gov.uk.

About xchangewales
xchangewales is an award winning programme that aims to deliver the use of electronic procurement products and services across to all Public Sector organisations in Wales, enabling them to source, tender, evaluate, order and pay for goods and services at a click of a button. The electronic tools and web-based services help to improve efficiency, increase productivity and lower the cost of doing business. For more information, please visit www.xchangewales.co.uk.
 
About ProcServe
ProcServe provides fast, flexible and secure electronic marketplaces and trading connectivity solutions. ProcServe's hosted, custom-branded solutions provide customers with the unique ability to leverage a software-as-a-service solution and maintain their own uniquely branded and configured marketplace. Customers enjoy a faster solution set up, lower cost of maintenance, and a secure environment. ProcServe is part of the Oracle Partner Network. ProcServe delivers Zanzibar, OPEN and xchangewales eMarketplaces on behalf of the UK Public Sector. For more information, please visit www.procserve.com.