THE Department of Social Security has outsourced a major chunk of its fleet administration to PHH Vehicle Management Services. The deal builds on a 12-year relationship with PHH, although the company had to fight off nine other contenders to win the new contract to help run the Government department's 4,000-strong fleet.

Fleet administration, formerly dealt with in-house by the DSS has been handed to the firm and fuelcards will be specific to the type of fuel a vehicle uses. The DSS has also taken on PHH's Autonet card, which gives drivers access to an extensive independent network of maintenance centres throughout the UK, helping cut down on non-warranty servicing costs.

Autonet also provides a free loan car to drivers who give 72 hours' notice of a service for the duration of the vehicle's time in the garage. The deal also covers the provision of Fleetcom, PHH's fleet management software and a fixed price tyre contract.

Gwilym Anthony, departmental transport officer at the DSS, said: 'It saves on a lot of administration time as it is now being carried out by PHH. We choose which cars to buy and work out who receives them, but PHH deals with all the delivery work and administration It had become a burden and was no longer cost effective because of the number of staff involved.'

The arrangement will affect the number of workers in the department, although they should be redeployed to other duties, Anthony said. The comprehensive deal will cover a fleet mainly made up of Vauxhall Corsas, Astras and Vectras.