Avail Consulting
We provide practical advice and tools to help our clients improve performance, save money and prepare for the future. Avail is a premium consultancy within the TribalGroup, focused on the practical application of leading-edge thinking to the modernisation of thepublic sector.
We offer the following services:
• Strategy and Business Planning
• Performance improvement
• Commissioning and Procurement
• Information and Communication Technology
Our values sit at the heart of everything we do:
• Put the client first.
• Deliver value for money.
• Work in a style that is rigorous and collaborative.
• Behave in a manner which is honest, open, good
• humoured & mutually supportive.
• Share knowledge.
• Encourage personal development
We are determined to deliver to our client using the right mix of a rigorous approach and collaborative behaviours. Avail was founded by Martin Wilson and Robert Garner, both former Partners with KPMG Consulting.
accreditations & policies
Management Consultancies Association Member 
Corporate social responsibility Diversity Supplier Environmental policy in-depth profile
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case studies
Foreign and Commonwealth Office Services - Vetting unitAvail was appointed to undertake a full strategic and operational review of the FCO Services Vetting Unit, and follow that review by providing implementation support. The Vetting Unit provides national security vetting to FCO and OGD customers on a repayment basis. It is operating within a changing context and a growing demand for its services created...
Review of Strategy, Structure, IT, Processes and ResourcingAvail was appointed, in May 2008, to undertake a review of the strategy, operating model, IT and operational processes of the Detainee Escorting and Population Management Unit (DEPMU).
DEPMU manages the detention and movement of individuals pending completion of their asylum application or prior to their removal from the country. Their core activities...
Support to the Workforce Modernisation ProgrammeThe white paper “Building Communities, Beating Crime” recommended a reconfiguration of the policing workforce. The Workforce Modernisation programme, managed by the NPIA, has thus sought to introduce mixed teams of police officers and police staff, with the choice of whether to deploy officers or staff dependent on the skills and powers...
Demand ManagementDemand management is the process of challenge which aims to ensure that patients are treated by the right person, in the right place, at the right time, using the right goods and services, whilst ensuring value for money. On behalf of the Department of Health, the NHS Purchasing and Supply Agency (PASA) contracted Avail Consulting to complete a detailed...
Lean SuppliesThrough a combination of mapping the supplies management processes and performing an infrastructure review, we identified three core issues that would need to be overcome.
The department managed six different – and inconsistent - ordering processes for the different types of supplies they used.
The storage equipment in place was not...
Automated Spend AnalysisIn order to enable their procurement activities the CPC required data from all of their 46 member NHS Trusts. In order to ensure that this information was fresh and relevant this data needed to be updated monthly and via an automated process.
Programme ManagementFollowing the implementation of an automated spend analysis system by Avail, the CPH wanted to automate their programme management activities. There requirement was to reduce the level of manual intervention required to develop internal and external reporting allowing procurement staff to focus on their core activities of delivering savings. Additionally...
Ocean ProgrammeAvail was engaged in August 2007 to support the procurement of a successor for the Foreign and Commonwealth Office’s global telecommunications network (FTN) which delivers voice, data and additional services to the client and partner departments using private wire, land-line and satellite bearers through a PFI arrangement.
Ocean ProgrammeAvail was engaged in August 2007 to support the procurement of a successor for the Foreign and Commonwealth Office’s global telecommunications network (FTN) which delivers voice, data and additional services to the client and partner departments using private wire, land-line and satellite bearers through a PFI arrangement. The Avail team established...
Public Sector Network (PSN)The Office of Government Commerce ICT cost reduction initiative developed a concept for the modernisation of ICT procurement. Implementing the concept was taken on by Cabinet Office Transformational Government team.
PSN will enable public sector customers to harness changing technology to better support their delivery of service and the transformational...
IT strategy development and implementation managementBuilding Schools for the Future (BSF) – a DCSF Programme – is the biggest single government investment in improving school buildings and transforming learning through ICT for over 50 years. The transformation agenda with a spend of £44billion over the next 15 years aims to change the experience of education on a national scale, joining...
Strategic Review and Future Operating Model DesignIn response to ambitious Public Service Agreement (PSA) and CSR07 comprehensive scheduling review targets, and a desire to deliver on a new vision for the future and embed a new culture, the DCSF commissioned Avail to undertake a strategic review of how it undertakes its procurement and commissioning services to the wider education environment –...
Care Outside Hospital Collective Service ProcurementThis case study demonstrates our ability to work collaboratively with four PCTs in Outer North East London to procure three outside hospital services.
Outer North East London (ONEL) comprises four Primary Care Trusts (PCTs): Barking & Dagenham, Havering, Redbridge, and WalthamForest, which are part of the North East London Collaborative Commissioning...
Commissioning planningFrom April 2009, NHS Blood & Transplant (NHSBT) will be the national Commissioner of organ retrieval services within England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland taking over responsibilities previously held by the National Commissioning Group and the National Services Division.
Procurement Transformation Business Case and PlanThe FCO Services' Executive Committee endorsed the completed Procurement Transformation Plan, and following this, Avail was successful in a competitive tender to support PCMD (Procurement and Contract Management Division) during the mobilisation and implementation phase. Avail is currently completing the mobilisation of this phase of the project which...
Reducing the cost of support servicesSuffolk Constabulary commissioned Avail in February 2007 to undertake a rapid review of business processes across the force.
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13 more case studies by Avail Consulting.
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thought leadership
Innovating organisations take a sophisticated attitude to risk, reward staff and seek out new perspectives. Some public sector organisations are rising to the challenge.
Innovation is one of the biggest buzzwords in public policy today. But unlike most buzzwords this one has a hard imperative behind it: the impending budget crunch will mean the public...
With a spending squeeze looming, public sector leaders should take the initiative now to ensure any changes are on their terms. Gill Hunter advises on the best way to go about it
The dominant theme in public finance for the past six months has been that deep cuts are coming and that the public sector had better be ready. With government debt growing...
Following the publication of the Treasury’s Operational Efficiency Programme report, Helen Pyecroft argues that Portfolio Management has the potential to provide public sector leaders with a means of prioritising programmes and activities to ensure that scarce resources are utilised to maximum effect.
Today’s Challenges
Government departments...
Since the country returned from its summer holidays, political debate has focused overwhelmingly on the business of balancing the national finances. There is – of course – little agreement about where and how most of the inevitable cuts will fall. But one area of spend is in every party’s sights: procurement. In this article Avail...
Budget 2009 has come at a critical time for the UK economy. With public sector borrowing set to hit the highest levels seen since the Second World War, the next few years are likely to be challenging for the public sector. Gill Hunter and Chris Davies, from Avail’s Strategy team, look at what this year’s Budget means in practice for public...
Expenditure by the Public Sector with third party suppliers is big business. In 2002-2003 this expenditure equated to 11-18% of GDP or £117 billion and covered all areas of expenditure: goods, services and capital projects. When looking at expenditure on IT alone, the Public Sector spent £4.26 billion with ICT providers and represented...
One of the toughest leadership challenges is dealing with people who are very able but who adopt behaviours which destabilise the organisation or demotivate their colleagues. This article draws on some academic research (Carter McNamara and others), but to a greater extent on personal experience – both as a manager and as a consultant observing...
Simon Thorp explains how a rigorous and innovative review of 24/7 response policing enabled the Staffordshire division to simulate the impact of a number of measures to meet demand through effective officer utilisation.
Introduction
Police forces have limited resources and are facing growing budget constraints. Recent priorities have caused resources...
General Sir Edmund Burton presents an in-depth view about the issues surrounding transformational change including: the need to understand the scope, scale and strategic context of any change programme, and the vital need for the exploitation of technology in delivering business benefits.
Most importantly, he outlines the need for public / private...
Is there a formula for collaboration in the public sector? Can partnership and co-operation be legislated, or imposed from on high?
After chairing our Round Table debate, David Walker, Editor of the Guardian Public magazine considers these questions and outlines four keystones of effective parnerships.
David looks at collaboration in action...
The Transformational Government agenda has the potential to drive truly radical reform in the public sector by centring public services on what people actually need – not what the Government wants to provide. But a lack of plans to match the vision and an over-reliance on simply improving access to services is putting this opportunity at risk.
In...
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