Gooise Meren municipality strengthens contract management

When Richard Roosjen began mapping out all contracts within the municipality two years ago, he found a fragmented landscape. “Contracts for two-thirds of our suppliers were not transparent,” he explains. “Much of the information was stored on personal network drives or in the mailboxes of former employees.”

This situation is familiar to Maarten Anbeek, Sales Director Benelux at ISPnext. “Without visibility and insight, you can’t maintain control over spending. Crucial information for audits or reports then remains untraceable.”

The inventory revealed specific areas for improvement. For example, payments were still being made for the maintenance of gas cylinders that had not been in use for years. Automatic renewals, missing accountabilities and scattered contract data were the norm. Even in care-related contracts, control was often lacking. “The focus there is on the client, not on the spend,” says Roosjen.

Thanks to ISPnext Contract Management, Gooise Meren now operates within a single central environment where all contracts are stored. Risks are more clearly visible, and contract renewals or terminations are better monitored.

Gooise Meren’s approach is pragmatic and structured. Contracts are classified by risk level, and each has a designated employee responsible for its active management. This structured method leads to tangible results. Sustainability conditions in contracts are now also being monitored: a roundabout that was supposed to be built sustainably turned out not to be. Active management now ensures such issues are identified in time.

The collaboration with ISPnext is described as approachable and solution-oriented. The municipality also actively shares knowledge with neighbouring councils, enhancing collective learning.

In the coming period, Gooise Meren aims to extract even more value from its central platform. Its goals are clear: to renew or terminate at least 95% of contracts on time, encourage the use of framework agreements, and monitor the quality of tenders more closely. Within the complex structure of a merged municipality, there is still much potential to realise.

The Municipality of Gooise Meren was formed in 2016 from the merger of Bussum, Muiden, Muiderberg and Naarden. The municipality has around 58,000 residents and a diverse internal structure, with multiple departments each previously managing their own contracts. Through ISPnext’s solutions, the municipality is now gradually working towards a single, centralised and future-proof contract management process.