TEAM began working with the DSA in the late nineties, and has provided a utility bill validation and cost recovery service for them ever since. The TEAM Bureau service means that all the Agency's utility bills are rigorously checked using TEAM's Sigma software, before being passed to the DSA Accounts Team; saving them significant resource, time and money. In 2010, TEAM made cost recoveries and preventions totalling over £189,000 from a total of 446 queries raised with the Agency's utility suppliers.
DSA saves £189,000 on energy thanks to TEAM
Thanks to TEAM's outsourced utility bill validation and recovery service the Driving Standards Agency (DSA) has saved over £189,000 on utility bills during the year 2010 alone.
Background
The DSA is one of the executive agencies of the Department for Transport. The DSA has statutory responsibility for setting standards and conducting theory and practical driving tests, whilst contributing to the wider road safety agenda. The agency is a national organisation who delivers tests from over 400 practical driving test centres, and around 158 theory test centres throughout Great Britain.
The DSA is working towards The Climate Change Act target of a 34% reduction in the UK's carbon emissions by 2020. The Agency has partnered with TEAM, the UK's leading supplier of integrated energy and carbon management solutions, through a pre-tendered Buying Solutions contract to help them achieve this objective.
Significant cost savings
TEAM began working with the DSA in the late nineties, and has provided a utility bill validation and cost recovery service for them ever since. The TEAM Bureau service means that all the Agency's utility bills are rigorously checked using TEAM's Sigma software, before being passed to the DSA Accounts Team; saving them significant resource, time and money. Presently, TEAM manage a total of 712 accounts for electricity, gas and water for a total of 311 DSA sites.
In 2010, TEAM made cost recoveries and preventions totalling over £189,000 from a total of 446 queries raised with the Agency's utility suppliers. Tom Newholm, the DSA's Sustainable Development Manager, explains: "With a total energy spend of around £800,000 this constitutes a substantial saving for us." Tom is responsible for the organisation's Energy Procurement and for delivering the Government's aspirations with regards to reduction of energy consumption and ensuring sustainability. Since the start of the working relationship, TEAM have made cost savings of over £440,000 on behalf of the DSA.
In addition to the Bureau service, in 2009 DSA asked TEAM to consolidate electricity and gas suppliers by moving all the contracts to the Government Energy Framework. The agency used to have over 20 suppliers and for a small fee TEAM transferred all accounts to the three nominated Government suppliers. This allowed DSA to take advantage of lower tariffs, EDI and dedicated account managers. This service has now been included in the new contract and the cost has been more than offset by the switch from manual bill entry to EDI which it enabled.
Improved reporting capability
The process of using Sigma to capture the DSA's utility billing data creates a central database of the Agency's consumption data. The DSA have access to this database of information to analyse, assess and report on site energy consumption, and formulate regional comparisons. Problem areas can be effectively identified and targeted using analysis tools such as league tables, normalisation against floor area and benchmarking. "This also provides an important information source for reporting our environmental performance through the annual Sustainable Development in Government Questionnaires." explains Tom.
Sustainable operations
The Agency have continued to introduce greater energy and water efficiency into all new-build test centres, many of which now include natural ventilation, triple-glazed windows and energyefficient lighting systems incorporating daylight control. In addition, in 2009-2010 the Agency targeted environmental improvements at 21 of the worst performing properties, and during 2010-2011 worked on a further 17. During last year, the DSA introduced a number of energy-efficiency measures in support of the 10% in-year reduction target and have recently published a five-year carbon management plan with the aim of reducing emissions by 25% by 2015.
Looking to the future
TEAM plays a vital role in helping the DSA achieve its sustainability goals. The Bureau service continues to reduce the Agency's utility and energy costs through efficient processing and data management. Tom Newholm comments: "The DSA are firmly committed to the development of effective energy management, and are expanding upon the success of the Bureau services to further cut energy costs. We have therefore recently extended our contract with TEAM for up to a further four years."
