Tighter procurement rules are set to deliver significant financial savings for Havering LBC.
The council, which spends around £300m a year on goods and services, revealed it had implemented a new financial system called Whole Life Costing (WLC) which is designed to calculate beyond the initial purchase or contract price. All buying or leasing decisions must now include maintenance, service costs, energy prices and disposal costs.
Staff are also required to think about less-tangible aspects, such as environmental, social and sustainable issues. This means a higher initial cost price, such as the purchase of a vehicle, can be allowed if it leads to greater savings through comparatively-lower running costs.
Recent research, funded by the London Centre of Excellence suggests there is a general awareness of the concept but minimal application among local authorities. 
A Havering spokesman said: ‘There has been a sporadic approach to WLC at Havering in the past, with only a handful of departments even considering looking at whole life costs. When they did, it was to no particular formula. With huge national procurement spending power, it is surprising that costs have not been looked at in greater detail elsewhere.'