The Local Area Procuremet Network (LAPN), the procurement consortium for ten London Arms Length Management Organisations (ALMOs), this week signed Framework Agreements with over 25 contractors which will save millions of pounds on housing maintenance contracts over the next five years.

At the signing ceremony, the Communities & Local Government department also announced approval of an implementation grant of over £300,000 to fund further development of LAPN's activities.

Gordon Perry, chief executive of Kensington & Chelsea TMO and chairman of LAPN, said: "This is a momentous event for LAPN. With our contractors now fully signed up across 10 vital procurement work streams and with the Government's clear support, we can push ahead with our plans to save London's ALMOs £60 million or more on major works programmes over the next five years.

Helen Evans managing Director of Brent Housing Partnership said: "Its brilliant news for us and for our tenants and leaseholders, who will benefit from these savings with improved services and lower bills than they would have received otherwise."

The signing of the Framework Agreements means ALMO major works programmes can now be allocated through LAPN. Through joint working with contractors, tenants and leaseholders, the ten ALMOs are seeking savings of 10-20% on a total programme of around £600 million to 2012. The savings will be achieved through transparent 'open book' working, remodelling existing contracts and together identifying efficiencies right through the supply chain, based on economies of scale.

Helen said "LAPN is one of the largest and most ambitious procurement efficiency initiatives ever attempted by local government on housing maintenance. It is very big and very complex and it has taken nearly three years of hard work to get to this point. But we believe we will now begin to reap the rewards of our intense efforts to bring this all together.

"There is already £42 million of works agreed through the Framework Agreements for this year and this will grow substantially from next year onwards. We have also identified over £10 million in savings on contracts already underway, so we know we can deliver the type of savings estimated in the LAPN business plan.

"Ultimately, what we are about is being as efficient as possible, so we can deliver more improvements to residents' homes in the future whilst keeping costs down.

"If all goes well, I hope the hard ground work we have laid out will mean LAPN is used as a model for large scale consortium procurement working elsewhere, and we and other consortiums will deliver even more for residents in the future."