Northern Ambulance Alliance saves £1 million through joint procurement of Civica fleet management software, Tranman

The Northern Ambulance Alliance (NAA) is improving the way it manages fleet information whilst simultaneously reducing costs and creating the ability to benchmark data across three ambulance trusts through a shared five-year contract with Civica’s fleet management software, Tranman.

The NAA has undertaken a joint procurement, and following a robust process awarded to Civica, the market leader in business-critical software applications, digital solutions and managed services to replace existing fleet management systems with an innovative, fit for purpose system which will support fleet managers to reduce vehicle costs through more efficient data capture and analysis.

This is the very first time a collaborative procurement has been undertaken by the NAA, an alliance between North West Ambulance Service (NWAS), Yorkshire Ambulance Service (YAS) and North East Ambulance Service (NEAS). The trusts have joined forces with the objective of identifying and developing opportunities for joint efficiencies and innovation. East Midlands Ambulance Service (EMAS) is also an associate member of the NAA.

This project has been led by NWAS Assistant Director of Estates and Fleet Neil Maher with the support of colleagues at NEAS and YAS, as well as the NWAS programme management office. Further support has been provided by a project team including key representatives from fleet, finance, procurement and information management and technology teams at NWAS, YAS and NEAS.

The project went live early March following workshops with Civica to ensure the new system meets the specification and needs of each of the trusts involved.

The key benefits of the new Tranman fleet management system include:

• One tendering process was carried out instead of three individual tenders, reducing duplication.

• One lot of set up costs were required across the three trusts.

• One common system will help to drive efficiencies within the ambulance fleet as a whole.

• There is an overarching reporting and management suite across the member trusts.

Neil Maher, Assistant Director of Estates and Fleet at NWAS said: “There have been significant savings achieved in the procurement of this system, however we see the real value of it as a long term investment for the three trusts in terms of future operating costs, process redesign, organisational learning, fleet quality, and the ability to make better informed decisions for future fleet procurements.

“It certainly falls within the ethos of Lord Carter’s report on operational productivity and performance in English NHS Ambulance trusts, and goes a long way to laying the foundations for achieving the aims of the report in terms of operational fleets in the North West, North East and Yorkshire.”

Matt Goodstadt, Director, Transport at Civica added: “We’re delighted to be partnering with the Northern Ambulance Alliance to support its fleet managers in reducing vehicle costs via better data capture and analysis. With fleet so critical to patient care for the three ambulance services, Civica Tranman will bring improved visibility and efficient operations.”

Read more on how software innovation and data capture is transforming fleet management here