Overview - CS3 is a consortium for the cultural and arts sectors in Suffolk and Cambridgeshire that aims to offer a wide range of accessible solutions to commissioners enabling them to deliver quality services through a single portal.

Background - The operating environment is dominated by the deficit reduction agenda; cuts in public sector finance presents both threats and opportunities for the local not-for-profit culture and sports sector. Providers need to be much more competitive and efficient to be able to survive in the new, more challenging operating environment. However, the sector is also in a key position to benefit as more services are outsourced to third sector providers.

Furthermore, the significant scaling down of public sector funding, and the heightened drive towards public sector efficiencies is putting commissioners under pressure to reduce transaction costs by not only seeking to establish joint buyer syndicates, where they join together to combine their purchasing power, but also pooling existing multiple contracts into a single, aggregated commission.

This growing focus on economic restraint, increased efficiency and greater value for money within the operating environment forms the context for the development of our consortium. CS3 not only offers a single point of contracting, but also enables local commissioners to harness the culture and sports sector’s long and successful track record of service delivery in a joined up, cohesive and commissioning-ready way.

Our vision statement is as follows:

We believe that together we can learn more, progress faster and deliver better. We therefore commit to collaborating for the benefit of those we serve. The result will be thriving communities in which people are better able to achieve their potential through culture and sport.

The shared mission of CS3 is to:

Sustain and grow culture and sports provision to meet identified needs and aspirations, by working collectively to access new markets, develop new services and build delivery capacity