Services Procurement restores control and unlocks significant savings

Pontoon's client needed clarity and restored control across their UK and Ireland services procurement programme. More than half of their 90 SOW projects were misclassified, exposing them to compliance risk and unnecessary spend.

Our Services Procurement team proposed a structured solution that corrected the misclassification and delivered £3 million in cost savings.

Since implementation, more than 300 SOWs have moved through the programme, unlocking average annual savings of £6 million.

Initial reviews revealed that many SOWs lacked clear parameters, such as time and materials detail or defined deliverables, leading to inconsistent reporting, compliance concerns and heightened co-employment risk.

To restore control and improve visibility, Pontoon introduced a standardised, accountable procurement process built around five pillars:

Evaluation. Pontoon conducted a comprehensive audit of all existing SOWs to identify misclassified spend and structural inconsistencies. The team held one-to-one sessions with 80 hiring managers to:

• Assess each scope
• Conduct gap analyses
• Confirm the correct engagement model
• Understand compliance exposure and co-employment risk

This assessment created a complete risk profile across the programme.

Education and alignment. A clear knowledge gap around SOWs slowed progress. Pontoon delivered a targeted training roadshow with ten sessions for 120 hiring managers, covering:

• SOW fundamentals
• Deliverable-based contracting
• Vendor accountability

Stakeholder engagement improved, and executive leaders offered full support as hiring managers gained confidence managing service based work.

Vendor partnership. Pontoon’s procurement experts collaborated directly with vendors to shift away from staff augmentation. After an all hands education session, we worked with each supplier to:

• Evaluate existing SOWs
• Standardise contracting
• Transition to deliverable-based model
• Enable fixed-price contracts 

VMS data strengthened benchmarking, enabling transparency on vendor performance.

Re-design

Time and Materials SOWs lacked accountability and consistent output tracking.

Pontoon introduced a universal template and evaluation checklist to help managers review proposals with confidence.

Regular updates between vendors, managers and Pontoon improved milestone tracking and overall visibility.

Change management

A new centralised change request process replaced informal email workflows.

All changes now follow a structured template, receive manager approval and are executed directly in the VMS.

This governance model enabled:

• Faster approvals
• Accurate cost tracking
• Improved programme wide insight
• Structured tendering for vendor selection

Structured efficiency. Compliance restored. Savings unlocked.

The standardisation of templates, clearer project roadmaps and improved tendering restored control and resulted in more than £3 million in initial savings.

Since 2018, over 300 SOWs have moved through the programme, delivering average annual savings of £6 million.

Vendors are now accountable for resources and project deliverables, enhancing consultant engagement and reducing tenure‑related liability.

Trust between stakeholders and Pontoon is stronger than ever, demonstrating the successful re‑design of the customer’s Services Procurement programme.