The Dunedin City Council (DCC), the authority representing over 114,000 citizens in Dunedin, New Zealand, has brought about significant improvements in its Contract Lifecycle Management (CLM) system by partnering with the intelligent contracts management solutions provider, Portt.

The need for this transformation arose due to various auditors identifying a pressing issue with DCC's contract management processes. The Council lacked a central repository to maintain thousands of contracts, lacked visibility of essential contractual information and had limited forecasting data. Contracts were often recorded organically using Excel spreadsheets, stored on individual computers, or even filed as hard copies. This hindered DCC's strategic decision-making capabilities and obstructed the value from contracts.

Serving as DCC's Procurement & Contracts Manager, Serge Kolman stated, "There were several challenges that we had in terms of contract management at DCC, but the main issue was that we had limited visibility across Council of the contracts we had in place, so we knew we had to do something different."

In seeking a solution to these issues, DCC commenced its selection process for a CLM solution, adopting the Lean Agile Procurement (LAP) approach, which cut the selection process from three months to just three days. Among all the bidders for this project, Portt distinguished itself by emphasising a partnership approach. This fostered a collaborative and trusted environment, which Kolman noted as a crucial factor.

Portt's CLM solution was ultimately chosen due to its compatibility with DCC's management style and for its proposition to transform supplier contracts into strategic business assets. Kolman said, "Portt was the only technology provider that positioned this as a strategic business improvement project for the Council."

With the implementation of Portt's CLM solution, DCC can now strategically plan for contract renewals and understand performance against contracts. This has boosted strategic advantage during contract negotiations and thereby optimised public dollar spend. Positive user feedback shows that the new system is easy to use and intuitive.

Continuing to reinforce the strong relationship developed between DCC and Portt, Kolman stated, "We have really valued the people involved in our business from Portt and the trust and relationships we have built. We truly believe that the support throughout the implementation and ongoing support we are still receiving to be excellent."

As the next step, Kolman revealed that once all contracts data goes live, their aim is to actively manage the entire contracts process via the system and have full visibility of every contract the council has, including its value, expiry, and deliverables. He added, "If I can push a button and see exactly what we are spending on all our contracts, that's the aim."