2013 application form

Following the review of Scottish Public Sector Procurement by John McLelland in 2006, Renfrewshire Council transformed its Corporate Procurement Unit (CPU) from a fragmented administrative support section to a centralised strategic function, with the remit to deliver significant financial and non financial savings through smarter procurement strategy and practice. The procurement reform project was initiated in 2009 to implement the recommendations from the procurement capability assessment (PCA). Renfrewshire Council now has the highest achieving PCA score of all local authorities and has delivered significant financial recurring savings of £2m in 2010/11 and a further £2m in 2011/12 contributing to a major transformation programme being undertaken by the Council. The Building Better Communities (BBC) programme, a £103m+ investment, is a tangible example of this new approach in practice, delivering better value and a more efficient way of working. Its success is in the provision of a focussed approach to improving community facilities, enhancing and improving the quality of education, leisure and social care service provision across Renfrewshire.

Due to the challenging financial climate faced by the council, it was recognised that a proactive, flexible and innovative approach to procurement was required to support service change, to ensure best value is achieved consistently across the organisation and, as far as possible, to meet future council and partner requirements. The first element, the procurement reform project began in May 2009. It was developed using the Council’s project management framework and driven forward by a project management board. A fully centralised Procurement Unit was created, with embedded teams in all key areas, including education, construction and social work. In addition, surveys were carried out with our internal customers and external suppliers. From the scores and comments, an action plan was developed to ensure all relevant needs were considered and included where possible. This fed into a phased project plan which was developed with milestones, deliverables and targets to measure and monitor progress. The project vision was to improve procurement performance; create a strategic procurement function; standardise and consolidate all procurement activity; and to deliver savings to support the funding of the transformation project.

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  Focussing on meeting customer and citizen needs and expectations;
  
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  The maximisation of cross organisational working with community partners for the benefits of users;
  
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  Opportunities for efficient and economic service delivery and ensuring the best stewardship of the council’s assets including maximising the use of facilities;
  
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  Opportunities for maximising external funding such as the Scottish Futures Trust; and
  
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  Investment decisions to be made on the basis of whole life costing.
  

A project plan effected change to CPU policy, process and working practices through collaboration and consultation with service department customers. Any proposed changes were agreed with the procurement reform team and board to approve changes regarding policy; and then documented and communicated to stakeholders. The development of this innovative strategic programme was carried out within a very short timeframe. This simply would not have been possible without buy-in and commitment to new ways of working by everyone involved, a willingness to diversify, adapt to new roles, accepting constant change, whilst performing day-to-day operations. Collaboration, inclusion, and consensus are CPU by-words and change happens only through extensive engagement and wide consultation across the customer base, collaboratively with other councils / peers, Scotland Excel, suppliers and 3rd sector partners. This structure displays a collaborative way of working which serves to significantly raise Procurement’s profile across the entire organisation, ensuring all stakeholders are fully engaged and ‘on board’ throughout a period of considerable change.

The change in approach to procurement has been innovative and forward thinking, with a link now established between procurement and the service department. This helps to build the contract requirements whilst ensuring compliance with regulations, promoting sustainability and delivering the service department’s requirements. The embedding of procurement officers within the team has brought many benefits including better specifications, savings realisation and enhanced working relationships between procurement and its customers.

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  Adoption of NEC standard forms of contract which facilitate partnership working;
  
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  Adoption of a pain / gain mechanism where risks and awards are shared between contractor and their supply chain and the Employer;
  
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  Setting up a programme governance structure where BAM Construction Ltd has a place round the table;
  
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  Signing of a partnership charter including establishing clear roles and responsibilities;
  
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  Agreed targets, performance reporting and escalation mechanisms;
  
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  Integrated teams, risk workshops and registers and contract management system
  
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  Open book pricing;
  
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  Joint workshops for agreeing mutual objectives and reviewing lessons learned.
  

Whilst the partnering ethos was established at the outset, it was within the progress of the early phase projects that positive relations between all parties was established; and afterwards the granting of later phase projects to BAM Construction Ltd’s that has matured this constructive relationship. Through engaging with BAM in this way, the BBC programme has been able to report a level of success which has not been realised on previous construction projects.

The project has delivered much in a short period of time; it has delivered significant financial savings - £2m recurring savings delivered in 2010/11and again in 2011/12 and is contributing to the implementation of a major transformation programme by the Council. The Council’s PCA score has increased from 21% in 2009 to a score of 66% in December 2011, the highest scoring capability score for any local authorities.

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  Achievement of Improved Performance Status (IPS), measured at the PCA Audit;
  
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  Updated procurement strategy, corporate social responsibility & sustainability policies and related documents with an embedded mechanism to ensure these are regularly reviewed and maintained;
  
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  A 2010-2012 Purchase to Pay strategy, incorporating a plan to maximise the exploitation of Purchase to Pay technologies and minimise the risk associated with ‘maverick spend’ and mismatched invoices;
  
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  A supplier-focused procurement portal on the Renfrewshire Council Website, incorporating contract opportunities and advance notice of forthcoming projects;
  
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  A procurement training & eLearning programme leading to a skilled workforce in areas of technology, legislation, procedures and best practices; and
  
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  Finalised suite of standard contract ‘Terms & Conditions’, spanning all commodity sectors.
  

We are building on our success to date with phase 4 of the project now underway where it is an aim to reach superior (75%+) in the PCA. In addition to the major asset, the Council and RLL recognised that the BBC programme could have a wider impact beyond the buildings themselves and this was a key priority. While the delivery of community benefits did not carry a significant weighting in the evaluation of bids for individual BBC projects, tender proposals formed part of the key performance indicators on which BAM performance was measured and is therefore directly linked to the level of profit which BAM Construction Ltd achieve on each project. Through effective supplier engagement and the principles of partnership working, the BBC project has thus so far seen the progression of a number of high profile, major capital schemes, delivered on time; on budget; to the satisfaction of the end users, the Council and RLL and with the following associated community benefits:

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  31% of sub-contracted works or £16.5M of £53.2M has gone to local sub-contractors;
  
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  27 apprentices employed on the BBC projects;
  
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  Only one reportable accident - 4917 operatives/ 245,850 man hours worked;
  
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  Newsletters distributed to local residents; schools; facility users; etc;
  
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  Raised over £2,000 for children’s unit of local hospital;
  
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  Upgraded community gardens and maintenance of woodland walk pathways;
  
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  Sponsorship of community events including: Erskine Music Festival; Parkmains High School Malawi trip; Headway Cycle; Fireworks Night; Paisley Town Centre Christmas lights switch on;
  
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  Use of local facilities for meetings;
  
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  Contributed to local curriculum including site visits & career discussion days;
  
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  Worked with local agencies to promote employment and skills opportunities;
  
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  Sponsored two pupils from Johnstone High School to attend university with employment;
  
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  Ran “Buy a Brick” campaign in aid of Barnardo’s Scotland and supported their Go Green Day;
  
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  Presented at local Chamber of Commerce Construction Forum;
  
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  Signed up to “Halving Construction Waste to Landfill”.
  

In the spirit of collaborative working, recognising that not every local authority has been able to effect change at this pace, we have made our knowledge base and materials available, in order to assist others to make changes within their own organisations.