Kerry County Council, Republic of Ireland Kerry County Council took part in a three-month e-Procurement Pilot initiative, in conjunction with First Derivatives plc and BT in April 2003. The pilot, similar to the NMDC & Dublin pilots outlined above, facilitated the Council trading electronically with 30 suppliers during below threshold, non-contract purchasing using Request for Quotation functionality on the Internet. The pilot has been another resounding success and resulted in Kerry adopting the solution as its main sourcing software. The Council has been running with the software since then and has now 167 suppliers on board. The Council is testifying to 31% savings on actual items purchased in that period. In recent weeks, we have engaged in discussions with Kerry County Council about extending the scope of usage even further. Kerry have approached us with an interesting South East Procurement Portal idea; they have discussed with Cork County, Cork City, Limerick City Councils the opportunity of all 5 councils using one platform and one supplier list in conjunction with the RFQ tendering solution. "The RFQ solution is a logical, user friendly and economic solution that has delivered on what was promised to Kerry County Council. The RFQ Manager has increased the timeliness, accuracy and competitiveness of the quotation process and has lead to considerable time and cost savings. We have received very positive feedback from both internal department users and suppliers and the whole solution is backed by an excellent support team." Catherine Carmody, e-Procurement Project Officer, Kerry County Council Newry & Mourne DC, Northern Ireland Newry & Mourne DC (NMDC) recently completed a three-month e-Procurement Pilot initiative, in conjunction with Invest NI and BT in January 2004. The pilot, we believe to be one of the first of its kind in Northern Ireland, has facilitated the Council trading electronically with 37 suppliers during below threshold, non-contract purchasing using Request for Quotation functionality on the Internet. There were 38 suppliers registered on the system as potential suppliers. The majority of suppliers on the system were locally based, and for almost all, the pilot represented their first foray into electronic quotations and in particularly using the Internet as part of their business. Peter Cunningham in the Stores Department has indicated to FD that the RFQ has been a success and has made not only Peter's job much easier, but has saved Newry money and time. Pre-cursory results on financial savings attained in this initial period which works out at currently 27.11%. Quote from NMDC Stores Department: "In my experience the RFQ pilot scheme should remain in place for the following reasons: It shows up price differentials between the various suppliers It finds best value for Newry & Mourne District Council It saves time not having to contact suppliers and in turn saves telephone costs It details the product specifications for the supplier, and also additional information can be given if requested by suppliers It allows you to produce statistical reports in order to monitor which suppliers had the best quotations It frees up work time which could be wasted communicating with potential suppliers by telephone Overall it benefits Newry & Mourne District Council financially and would continue to do so in the future." The pilot resulted in NMDC purchasing the software for commercial use. Dublin City Council, Republic of Ireland Dublin City Council originally took part in a three-month e-Procurement Pilot initiative, in conjunction with BT. The pilot, similar to the NMDC pilot outlined above, facilitated the Council trading electronically with 45 suppliers during below threshold, non-contract purchasing using Request for Quotation functionality on the Internet. The pilot, which began in Oct 2002 and ended in late Dec 2002 was a resounding success and resulted in Dublin adopting the software as its main sourcing software. The Council has been running with the software since then and have now 86 suppliers on board. The Council testifies to 33% savings on actual items purchased in that period. Purchasing Officer Paul Russell said: "Inductive savings of 25% in the cost of materials have emerged. We are surprised and very pleased with the findings. We are very pleased that the initial savings found have not only been sustained over a long period of time but have actually increased."