Naperville saves $120,000 using Spikes Cavell Observatory
The City of Naperville, Ill., implemented the Spikes Cavell Observatory suite of data-driven online tools to deliver improved spend and contract visibility. “So far we estimate that we’ve delivered around $120,000 and, with the initiatives that the Observatory has helped us to identify, our forecast is that we’ll multiply our initial savings by a factor of four by year end,” said Mike Bevis, Naperville’s Chief Procurement Officer
With a total population of 140,000, Naperville is the fifth largest city in the state of Illinois, behind Chicago, neighboring Aurora, Rockford and Joliet. Naperville successfully attracted a number of corporate headquarters to the city and has made Money magazine’s Top 10 Places to Live for the past decade. Procurement at the City of Naperville is centralized, and the five-person team spends around $140 million a year purchasing everything needed to run the city including construction and professional services.
The number one priority for the procurement team at the City of Naperville is managing spend to deliver savings for the city. As a small team, they have to be careful to ensure they spend their time working on what matters most, and an effective way to rank and prioritize projects high on the needs list
The Naperville procurement team has used the Spikes Cavell Observatory, a cloud-based online service, to identify savings opportunities and in particular to establish which of those opportunities delivered the biggest “bang for their buck.” Improved spend and contract visibility have highlighted the opportunity to collaborate with local park and school districts who have also implemented the Spikes Cavell Observatory. The result is that the organizations have been able to identify common suppliers and save money by renegotiating relevant contracts.
- Read the main story, “What’s the buzz about spend analysis?,” to learn about spend analysis and the steps to complete it.
