But according to the Local Government Association (LGA) their efforts are being undermined by "tortuous" EU procurement rules that are "choking off" opportunities to save money and stifling local growth.
In particular, the body is concerned about procurement directives that are due to be revised over the next 18 months. At present, contracts for goods and services worth more than £170,000 must be opened up to the entire European Union.
Council leaders claim this threshold is already "ludicrously low" and should be increased substantially, enabling authorities to give preference to local suppliers and help support their own economies.
They also point out that the tendering process takes several months to complete and therefore acts as a barrier to authorities entering into money-saving shared services agreements with their neighbours.
The warnings come after a report by the LGA revealed that £30m had been saved across the lifetime of five high-profile shared services arrangements between councils across the UK.
Peter Flemming, chair of the organisation's improvement board, said: "Ridiculous EU procurement rules are making it harder for councils to save money by sharing services, and opportunities to promote local jobs and economic growth are being missed."
He added: "Opaque internal market regulations, which fail to distinguish public sector goals from the private sector's profit motive, are standing in the way of councils delivering better value for money to taxpayers."
Mr Flemming urged the UK government to "take the fight to Brussels" to call for a rewrite of the existing rules and ensure that new ones address the issues raised.
The LGA gave several examples of the kind of shared services initiatives that are being stifled by bureaucratic EU processes, with Procurement Lincolnshire established in 2008 and Hoople Ltd set up in 2011 among them.
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Autor(en)/Author(s): Sarah Feurey
Quelle/Source: Shared services link, 20.08.2012
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