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In 2003, a study was commissioned to examine the feasibility of establishing a Public Sector Procurement Agency for the County of Essex by the Association of Chief Executives in Essex. The study was also to contain an outline Business Case and corporate governance arrangements.

SPS conducted interviews with 18 Chief Executives and held four consultative workshops organised around the County.

The Chief Executives accepted the report and the Procurement Agency for Essex (PAE) was launched in April 2004 with 14 of the 18 participating organisations agreeing to become founder members. This provides the local government sector with a model for how collaborative Procurement should work; it is the UK's first example of a genuinely cross public sector, self-funding collaborative procurement organisation.

"The PAE is one of the earliest shared service models established in local government. Most of the District councils could not justify setting up their own procurement teams, so the opportunity to create a collaborative vehicle for sharing capacity, expertise and knowledge whilst strengthening Procurement networks in Essex was the clear answer"
Peter Quinn, PAE Director.

Once set up the PAE soon established itself by delivering early successes with effective procurement of agency staff and advertising. Both led to real cashable gains for all the members, with Basildon benefiting from a return of investment of nearly 10:1 on its first year's subscription.