Managing Director’s review
Savings through joint procurement
The major savings in general government in 2024 were also reflected in procurement. Some procurement procedures were cancelled or postponed, while ways to realise others cost-effectively, such as through the increased use of joint procurement, were sought. Joint procurement allows the achievement of not only better contractual terms but also lower prices through higher volumes. This is why in 2024, a year of savings, the total value of joint procurement realised by Hansel, the central contracting authority for the public administration, increased by EUR 125 million to EUR 1,718 million.
Hansel is the only central contracting authority in Finland, and its operations are regulated by law. When performing our public administrative duty, we are bound by the Act on a Limited Liability Company Called Hansel Oy to comply with general administrative legislation and act in compliance with the liability for acts in office. This contributes to the credibility our customers expect of us.
The attitude towards joint procurement in both the Government Programme and the European Commission is fairly positive. In addition to making procurement more affordable, centralised procurement makes the operations more professional and sustainable. It is also seen as superior to decentralised procurement in terms of the prevention of corruption.
One of our new projects last year was the establishment of a procurement category for healthcare and social welfare services. I would like to thank our wellbeing services county customers and service providers for their smooth cooperation in the preparation of a dynamic procurement system for housing services for disabled people. The joint procurement has been very well received, and we are already planning joint procurement procedures for other housing services.
We are constantly working to achieve our vision of being your preferred procurement partner. In 2024, this meant continuing with our determined sustainability efforts, for example. Our development managers have created a new audit model for joint procurement, which is described in more detail in a separate article in this Annual Report. We have also been studying the new European Sustainability Reporting Standards (ESRS), but we are still offering our report for 2024 according to the familiar GRI standard. Furthermore, we have put a great deal of effort into preparedness in procurement and the development of information security because they have been important issues for our customers.
In May, Hansel’s Board of Directors and I were guests of SKI, the Danish central contracting authority for the public administration, and we have also worked closely with Adda, the central contracting authority for Swedish municipalities. Comparing practices and exchanging experience with other similar bodies is extremely rewarding. Verification of the savings from joint procurement is one of the items on our common agenda, and we have challenged ourselves at Hansel by analysing the cost benefits of joint procurement. We describe the project in more detail in this Annual Report. We can already say that joint procurement is clearly more affordable on average than decentralised public procurement.
Although the times are challenging for suppliers in many ways, Hansel is confident about the future. We carry out joint procurement to meet our customers’ needs, as well as assisting with tendering when it cannot be realised through joint procurement. We also provide more assistance in the development of procurement in general. Let’s succeed in procurement together!
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