Details of the winning assignment:
Effective IT Awards 2004
Most effective use of IT in outsourcing
Medicines Control Agency - Implementing major strategic change through groundbreaking outsourcing
PA Consulting Group helped the Medicines Control Agency (now operating as the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency) to set up a highly innovative strategic outsourcing contract, within only two years from the time the project was first conceived. The arrangement has already started to deliver 20% operating cost reductions. The benefits of improved procedures for approving medicines and monitoring their safety extend to the general public, pharmaceutical companies and the NHS.
Facing an ever-increasing volume of work, the Medicines Control Agency (the Agency) required a radical change in the way it operated, and its management of information in particular. The Agency had developed an information management strategy which defined at a high level the information solution and the business activities it would support. But the problem was how to design, develop, implement and operate this new information management solution at the same time as continuing to deliver business as usual.
The Agency knew that outsourcing was the only answer.
The ambition was in place but there were no hard definitions that would allow an outsourcer to price this contract in a conventional manner. The Agency needed its outsourcer to work with it in a very open-ended way to define the new systems and processes, and share the risk throughout the contract - not something that a traditional outsourcing contract would usually consider without charging huge insurance premiums to cover its costs.
PA worked closely with the Agency to design a new kind of outsourcing contract which allowed for variation in planned expenditure - to be agreed on a project-by-project basis - and which would share risk between the Agency and the outsourcer without unacceptable cost overheads for either party. Rigorous governance processes designed by PA ensured the Agency would stay firmly in control throughout. This was not the way most outsourcing contracts had ever been done before, and certainly not in the public sector.
Further information
Further information about this winning project, and photographs, are available.
PA: delivering value
PA Consulting Group is a leading management, systems and technology consulting firm. Operating worldwide in more than 35 countries, PA draws on the knowledge and experience of 3,000 people, whose skills span the initial generation of ideas and insights all the way through to detailed implementation.
PA builds and implements strategies for the creation and capture of shareholder and customer value. We help accelerate business growth by developing innovative products for our clients and by the application of emerging technology. We deliver major transformation programs, mobilise human resources, and manage complex IT and technically-challenging programs.
PA focuses on creating benefits for clients rather than merely proposing them, and our results-focused approach is founded on a unique commitment to excellence, independence and value:
Excellence. We are committed to unremitting excellence and quality in every aspect of our work: in our relationships with our clients, in the client assignments we deliver, and in the people we recruit and develop, who enjoy exciting and rewarding careers at PA.
Independence. PA is totally independent from outsourcing, software, hardware and audit providers. We are the pre-eminent client-side advisor on IT and outsourcing projects, and deliver, in partnership with our clients, business solutions tailored to our clients' needs, rather than solutions pre-determined by commercial alliances. As an employee-owned company, we are answerable to our clients and to ourselves only.
Value. PA's consultants bring an intense focus on delivering value through deep industry insight, the development and application of technology, and our culture of respect, collaboration and flexibility in working with clients.
About the Medicines Control Agency
The Medicines Control Agency (now operating as the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency) is the regulatory body responsible for the approval and licensing of all medicinal products sold within the UK. Its remit is to promote and protect public health and contribute to Government policy on pharmaceuticals and medicines. As well as having a very strong public service ethos, the Agency’s status as a trading fund means it funds itself by charging for its services.
As well as approving new products, the Agency monitors existing ones to maintain safety, quality and efficacy. It evaluates approximately 1,000 product applications and up to 20,000 variations of existing licenses annually. In addition, it deals with around 75,000 Adverse Drug Reaction notifications every year.
About Infoconomy and the Effective IT Awards
Established in 2002, Infoconomy offers an integrated print-based and Internet-based information service to provide technology executives with information that is critical; packaged in such a way that it is useful for decision-making. Infoconomy is the publisher of the highly regarded technology business magazine, Information Age, and M-iD.
The Infoconomy Effective IT programme is an initiative to help corporate IT buyers and managers get the very best value from their investments. The focus is on articulating and identifying the most powerful strategies and technologies. As part of this initiative, the Effective IT Awards 2004 are designed to highlight the effective use of technology across a broad range of industries and across all company sizes. The emphasis is on rewarding projects that have not only helped save money, but that have delivered tangible benefits to the business in terms of improved business processes or enhanced capabilities. All entries for the Effective IT Awards 2004 were subject to a rigorous selection process, led by Information Age's and M-iD's highly respected journalists and supported by an independent panel of experts. There was no fee for entering, and all short-listed companies attended a Gala Charity Ball on July 6th 2004, at which the results were announced.
