External Service Delivery Plan – Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade
Overall strategy
Objective:
Reduce costs by delivering services externally in a cost effective manner. The Department continues to examine all areas of its own work to
consider the best approach to quality service delivery, including where appropriate, opportunities for external service delivery
Human resources
The department will utilise its existing workforce plan to address any human resource issues arising from the implementation of the external
service delivery plans in line with the ECF and other central Government initiatives.
Proposed Governance and resourcing
Current senior responsible officers will manage the development and delivery of projects subject to oversight through relevant steering
committees reporting through Corporate Services Division to the Management Advisory Committee.
In so far as possible, projects will be resourced from within existing business areas. However, it must be acknowledged that there will often be a
time lag between the expenditure on a contract to outsource services and measurable savings. The efficiency pay-back is likely to be through
improved efficiency and cost avoidance rather than headcount reduction. Budget allocation and project management will have to address these
issues.
Prioritisation process
Priority will be set on a project to project basis with the key aim of improvements in the quality of service delivery and considering opportunities
for expenditure and dead count reduction.
1
Functions currently delivered externally
No.
Action/Deliverable
Detailed Description
(define scope,
volumes, headcount)
Level at which
contract administered
(eg. Local, Regional,
National)
Suitability
for multidepartment
contracts
Annual value of
contract(s) (€)
Senior
Responsible
Owner
Chief of Protocol
Cross-Departmental Function – Facilities Management
1
Catering
All tenders submitted to
OPW panel of caterers
Local
Yes
2
Cleaning
National
Yes
3
Security
National
Yes
€ 425,000
A/S Fergal
Mythen
4
5
6
7
8
Buildings maintenance
Reception
Maintenance
Mech and elec
HQ buildings only; also
local contracts for overseas
offices
Security services provided
by 1. Cash in Transit (PPO,
Consular, Finance Unit) and
2. SAR Security (PPO
buildings)
OPW service
Less than €25,000 per
contract; annual total about
€100,000
€ 600,000
National
No
€500,000
Training Officer
National
Yes
Architect
OPW service
OPW service
Cross-Departmental Function - Human Resource
1
2
Payroll
Training
3
Recruitment
Specific contracts put to
tender
Work with Public
Appointments Service for
majority of civil service
appointments and D/Social
Protection in Cork and
Balbriggan for TCO
recruitment for PPOs
A/S Fergal
Mythen
2
No.
Action/Deliverable
Detailed Description
(define scope,
volumes, headcount)
Level at which
contract administered
(eg. Local, Regional,
National)
Suitability
for multidepartment
contracts
Annual value of
contract(s) (€)
Senior
Responsible
Owner
4
Time and Attendance
Maintenance and support
for time and attendance
system (flexitime) provided
by SoftWorks
National
Yes
€26,000
A/S Fergal
Mythen
Subject to
specific DFAT
requirements
for On Site
Delivery being
met
Subject to
specific DFAT
requirements
for On Site
Delivery being
met
€500,000
Head of ICT
€150,000
Head of ICT
National
Subject to
specific DFAT
requirements
for On Site
Delivery being
met
€375,000
Head of ICT
National
Not Yet
€2,250,000
Head of ICT
Cross-Departmental Function – Information and Communication Technology
1
Help Desk & Deskside Support
Department currently
outsources its ICT Service
Desk for its 2,000 users
across 90 locations
nationally and internally
2
System support
Senior ICT Infrastructure
Architect Engineer
Requirements
3
4
System Integration
Network Administration
5
Application Management
Telecommunications and
ICT Security Engineers
manage the Department’s
private Global Voice, Data
and Video Network which
connect all 90+ offices
globally
Managed Service Provision
to support Passport Service
ICT infrastructure and
systems
National
3
No.
Action/Deliverable
Detailed Description
(define scope,
volumes, headcount)
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Cyber Security
ICT Security Advisory
Service
Level at which
contract administered
(eg. Local, Regional,
National)
Suitability
for multidepartment
contracts
Annual value of
contract(s) (€)
Senior
Responsible
Owner
Subject to
specific DFAT
requirements
being met
€250,000
Cyber Security
No
Between €3m & €3.5m per
annum, paid directly by the
applicant
Director of
Passport
Services
Departmental Specific Function 1 – Passport Service
1
Receipt of passport applications
The Passport Service
operates a joint service with
An Post for the receipt and
secure delivery of passport
applications from the public.
Last year An Post received
over 420,000 passport
applications from post
offices countryside
mitigating the provision of
local passport offices
throughout the State. The
QA element of this process
has very significantly
improved the completeness
of applications submitted.
national
4
Areas currently being tested for External Service Delivery or in the process of being moved to external delivery
No.
Action/Deliverable
Detailed Description (define
scope, headcount, volumes,
current data quality)
Key Steps for
Implementation and
Associated
Timelines
(Start/End Dates)
Suitability
for SharedService
Suitability
for multidepartment
contracts
Expected
€ Saving
(inc.
asmptns)
Senior
Responsi
ble
Owner
Yes
No – Large
scale
CFO John
Conlan
Proceeding
RFT to issue by year end
/early 2015 with a view to
be in operation by Easter
2015.
Yes
Yes
Director of
Passport
Services
Feasibility assessment
continuing to be
completed by end Q1,
2015.
Yes
Cross-Departmental Function - Human Resource
1
Payroll
Payroll is transferring to shared
service in Q3 2015
Departmental Specific Function 1 – Passport Service
1
Provision of customer
contact services to passport
applicants
2
Provision of paper scanning
and management services
for the Passport Service.
This year just over 40,000 calls were
attempted to the contact centre
extending to over 133000 attempts in
June. Similarly the numbers of
emails received range from 10000
per month off-peak to 21000 per
month peak time. Requests relate to
obtaining general information to
establishing the status of an
individual application. The service is
primarily manned in the peak season
by up to 10 temporary clerical
officers. During the off peak season
it is being filled on a best effort basis
by temporarily assigning 3 COs
when
The Department will examine the
feasibility of including a remote
application scanning facility, which
would significantly reduce the
internal workload and yield staffing
and other efficiencies. Passport
processing is currently very paper-
Not
quantified at
this time
Director of
Passport
Services
5
No.
Action/Deliverable
Detailed Description (define
scope, headcount, volumes,
current data quality)
Key Steps for
Implementation and
Associated
Timelines
(Start/End Dates)
Suitability
for SharedService
Suitability
for multidepartment
contracts
Expected
€ Saving
(inc.
asmptns)
Senior
Responsi
ble
Owner
based. The Passport Service
receives approximately half a mile of
paper (end-to-end) on an annual
basis. This volume of paper brings
considerable overheads in terms of
management, storage, and movement
- with associated staff and time
costs. A very preliminary
consideration suggests that there may
be value in examining the options in
the use of a suitable external service
delivery agency to take on some or
all of these paper management
activities.
6