Executive Summary
This report regards a local authority that is merging its education, library and social services, which will be done by relocating all of them into one facility. Purpose of this integration is to create synergies that would lead to greater efficiency and productivity in the council. Member of the public are expected to benefit from this move because they will receive three distinct services under one facility as opposed to the current situation; they have to move all over the locality for same service. The process of merging these departments is to be takes systematically and with greater levels of transparency.
Background Information
The need for relocation is being heightened by the current fragmentation of services in the county. Facilities for services that are closely related are currently located in far-flung areas, a situation that is causing serious operational deficiencies. Members of the public also get inconvenienced by the current operational structure. Departments of education, libraries and social services—all of which work closely with each other—are located far from each other. For instance, department of education is seven kilometers away from the library, which lead to serious inconveniences among employee and members of the public. Employees inconvenience comes from the fact that most historical documentation is stored in the library archives. As a result, employees have to drive several kilometers to collect just information. Having to travel to the library for those six kilometers several times a day has led to waste of council resources, and time that employees would have spent doing some other productive work.
Member of the public get inconvenienced because they do not have a clear understanding of where materials they need would be located. For instance, some visit council libraries looking for information that is located in the social or educational services. It is common to see helpless council; residencies going to the wrong places. Unfortunately, even most of council employees in the three departments get confused on where certain information could be saved. As a result, the employees end up sending members of the public to wrong places, or even have themselves go look for non-existing documents at the wrong department. All this confusions have angered members of the public who have consistently pushed the council into adopting more efficient processes.
It is therefore due to the aforementioned inconveniences that this feasibility study is being prepared. The purpose of the study and this subsequent report is to investigate on best practices that should be used in relocating all the three departments under one facility. There is great hope that amalgamation of all the there departments would result to high quality services to members of the public. In addition, employees’ productivity would be set to increases because of the time saved moving from one department to another (Knudsen 1996). Indeed, the council would be able to meet its mission of providing high quality services to the local community. Though this integration of services is the first in this council; many other council in the country have indeed been practicing that amalgamation of their services (Lock 2007). It is therefore not too late for this particular locality to embark on merging its services. The greater force behind the merging of departments in local authorities has been information technology, which has provided more efficient ways of sharing information between departments and members of the public (Umble et al. 2003).
Proposed Relocation
Relocation of the three departments into one roof will come with several operational efficiencies. It will mean that employees would not have to travel from one location to the other in search of documents because everything will be located under one roof. Employees should therefore spend the first few weeks of being in the same building familiarizing themselves with locations of documents and work equipments. The senior management will also be in apposition to collaborate on many matters compared to the hardship they had to undergo previously (Hill 2004). Another benefits would include the ease by which member of the public will be helped at the facility. Having them visit one location for various needs will make them appreciate the way their tax monies are being utilized. In addition, the success with relocation of the three departments will serves as a test on whether centralization of activities on closely related departments will be beneficial to the county. This relocation should thus be seen as a pilot project for the many amalgamation projects that would follow. Stakeholders are therefore requested to take the matter seriously and contribute their best efforts in the project (Duffy et al. 1993).
There are, however, some disadvantages that would occur in the centralized system. For instance, the centralization will see the three departments loose some autonomy in their operations. This is because operations would be controlled at the highest level of management. But as it has been seen in local authorities that have centralized their operations before, it does not take long for employees of the amalgamated operations to pick up speed in their activities (White 1971). The initial cost for the project, especially renovations, construction and purchase of equipments will not come easy for the local government. A lot of resources will have to be employed in the process.
Staffing
The number of staff within the three departments will decline rapidly (from 60 to 35) after merging them. This is because of the duplication of duties that will accrue from departmental amalgamation. In addition, the use of Information Technology, which will be sought aggressively, might lead to loss of some positions in the new department. The loss of jobs within the new department will mostly affect those in clerk and secretarial positions. The will, however, be the need to employ several senior management to help with the process sustaining and improving sufficiency in the enlarged department (Dai & Wells 2004). The cost of dismissing employees is estimated to be UK₤ 6 million; the local government would on the other hand be able to save UK₤ 7.5 million annually. The other cost of hiring two senior managers for two years will be around UK₤ 400, 000. It can therefore be seen that the initial cost of dealing with labor issues would be heavy at the initial stages, but the benefits would show themselves in the long run.
Floor space distribution
Locating the three departments on one facility is will demand bigger space than the ones occupied currently. Several high capacity equipments will also need to be purchased and installed, because of the increased demand in their use. In allocating floor space, it is advisable to consider each department’s needs and number of employees (Dai 2002). For instance, the local authority has to consider the fact that the library would demand the largest floor space in the facility. This is because of the volume of book shells, reading tables and computer equipment that will be installed therein. It is advisable to allocate the library about 75 percent of floor space, and the rest to be equally shared by educational and social services. The space distribution is illustrated in the diagram below:
Equipment
Owing to the increased amount of activities in the newly enlarged office, the local government will need to invest in high capacity machines such as copiers, printers and scanning machines. Since all employees would be migrating with their computers and desktop painters, the council will just have to buy equipment that would be used by all member of the labor force (Bateman 1985). Two printers will be enough for the job. Luckily, current technology has made it possible for manufacturers to make machines with scanning, printing and photocopying technologies. Two of these machines would be enough for the entire facility. Each of the machines would cost about UK₤ 5, 000, brining the total cost to about UK₤ 10, 000.
The Site
The new location for the three facilities is situated close to a well populated are, where most visitors to the three facilities reside. Accessibility is therefore greater than it is currently. This shall enable even visitors from away areas and deliveries to get to the facility with ease; they will not have to move from one department to the other while delivering or researching for items. The property is owned by the local authority, which would diminish the initial cost of the project. The actual building that will house these departments will just need to be renovated and a small section will be added. Total cost of renovation and addition of the extra section shall cost about UK₤ 600, 000.
Project Schedule
The entire project, from renovation to relocation, will take approximately six months. However, there will be extra three months window for contractors to finish the project. The duration time is calculated from the time the stakeholders accept to undertake the project. In order to ensure that the project is completed in time and that all the stakeholders are kept informed regarding the goings in concurrent stages, the following procedures would be undertaken:
Approval
The project will have to be approved by the relevant officials in the local government. Members of the public should also be involved in this process, which is important because it provides a greater deal of legitimacy (Balogun & Hailey 2004). After all, the money tome be used in the project will come from member s of the public and they will also be end users.
Identifying Consultants
After stakeholders give a go-ahead with the project, the next step shall be the identification of professionals who will ensure that the project is done in ways that would not compromise on quality of the project. Transparency is the greatest asset while in identifying lead consultants in such public projects (Attwood 2003)
Design Preparation
The consultants shall then embark on overseeing the preparation for schematic designs for the renovation of the building, the additional section to be constructed, and the final layout of offices in the building. The consultants and designers will first have to understand the local authority needs before starting to design. It shall be important to develop several designs, explain them to stakeholders who will have the opportunity to choose few among them and consequently advice on the changes that should be made (Manners 1986).
Design Review
Planning officials within the council should be allowed the opportunity to review designs, that is, whether they meet the set standards (Anderson 2004). Successful passage at this stage will necessitate the acquisition of documents to allow the construction to go ahead. It is also at this stage that total construction costs should be estimated.
- Bidding: Receiving documents from the council and national planning bodies should be followed by the advertisement of bids for the construction and relocation services. Again, this should be done in the most transparent manner possible. This is because any signs that bidding is not being done in open manner could jeopardize the entire exercise. Authorities should therefore ensure that only the most qualified candidates are considered for these projects.
- Begin Renovation: the winning bidder for the renovation of the building and construction of the extra wing should begin the work immediately. Contractor will be obliged to stick to the deadline provided at the signing of agreements. Should it occurred that the project could not be finished in time, the contractor should immediately report to the project committee. However, project extension shall not be allowed to go beyond the three month safety window, except under very special circumstances, which will have to be discussed by the committee.
- Moving-in: Firms that won relocation bids should at thi8s point embark or carrying departmental items to their rightful office space. Employees who would feel comfortable carrying their wares into new offices should be obliged to do so.
Merging activities of several departments in the county council it would help in increasing efficiency and productivity among civil servants. Member of public would benefit though these services, as well as having to deal with all three departments in one facility; driving all over the council for services will become a thing of the past. This process should be undertaken in a well planned manner for the purpose of enabling successful amalgamation of departmental activities (Rappoport et al 1991).
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