National Best Value Benchmarking Scheme (NBVBS)
About the National Best Value Benchmarking Scheme (NBVBS)
Who are we?
The scheme was set up by the Property Societies in Local Government in 1997 because benchmarking for property services did not exist in a form that was suitable for Local Authorities. Under the banner of FPS (Federation of Property Societies) we joined with CIPFA (Chartered Institute of Public Finance) to provide an integrated and totally confidential benchmarking scheme. Everything is organised by the Professional Societies and no profit is taken out of the scheme, so we don't have glossy advertising but what we do have is a truly professional approach involving both the public and private sector providers.
The Background
In November 1997, the benchmarking model was formulated by Keith Hilton for the Society of Chief Quantity Surveyors in Local Government, in conjunction with CIPFA, the Federation of Property Societies and the Society of Chief Architects in Local Authorities.
The questionnaire was sent out to a number of volunteer authorities and the information received was used to test the model. The testing was completed by CIPFA and the model subjected to examination by the volunteer authorities, external auditors and the Audit Commission. All of these bodies consider it to provide the level of information appropriate to identify areas of improvement, development and best practice, consistent with the Government's approach to Best Value.
The service is run by the Professional Societies on a non-profit making basis, any surpluses being ploughed back into the development of the scheme. Over the years the numbers of subscribers has risen dramatically and we now have over two hundred subscribing authorities within the scheme.
The Modules
We provide a full range of services for Property Design and Management and are now developing modules to cover other areas. The range of modules is:
- Professional Services Module
- Estates and Property Management in association with ACES - Referred to in government AMP guidance
- Energy Management
- Building Performance in association with COPROP
- Maintenance - in conjunction with CBSS
- Scottish Benchmarking - in assocation with FPS Scotland
- Modules are filled in online and analysis is avialbale immediately provided others have submited infomation. Standard histograms can be found on the website together with articles and discussion pages
- Highways in association with LoTAMB
Comparison
Although mainly made up of public sector organisations we have extended the data into the private sector to give a truly representative set of benchmarks. Major private sector organisations are part of the scheme and we are in discussion with others to ensure that the benchmarks provided are truly representative of Best Value.
We are the market leader in Local Authority benchmarking and are in close touch with the LoTAMB, Audit Scotland, CLG, DfT, Scottish Government and the Improvement Service. Among our members are major Metropolitan Cities, numerous County Councils, together with Metropolitan Authorities, London Boroughs, Unitary and District Councils.
