Suffolk County Council
Suffolk County Council is the local authority responsible for providing key public services and governance in the county of Suffolk, England. The council is run by 75 county councillors who are elected by residents of Suffolk to make decisions on their behalf.
The Challenge:
Procure4 was engaged to help the Head of Procurement at Suffolk County Council develop a clear vision and strategy for the Procurement Team, implementing a category management approach to achieve savings amid increasing financial pressure on frontline services.
The Solution:
Procure4 helped Suffolk County Council shift its focus from contract management to delivering tangible savings by developing a strategic vision, providing tools and training for the team, supporting recruitment, and advising on savings through eAuctions.
The Results:
After a year of support, Procure4 helped Suffolk County Council's Head of Procurement create a clear plan, improve team skills, and speed up savings using eProcurement and strong audit methods, while also considering local economic needs.
Suffolk County Council
Preview
Suffolk County Council is the local authority responsible for providing key public services and governance in the county of Suffolk, England.
Challenge
Through a competitive process, Procure4 were engaged to support the Head of Procurement develop a compelling vision, mission and focus for the Procurement Team’s activities in the face of increasing financial pressure on front line services. Aligned to key focus areas and supported by a robust category management programme, Procure4 were tasked with developing category approaches in areas not currently under the scrutiny of the internal team.
Working as One Team, Procure4 were able to guide the council through the adoption of a tried and tested category based approach to deliver savings, providing proven methodology, training and support, and quality assurance to the internal team’s own activities.
Approach
The initial challenge was to align the internal team behind a compelling Vision and Mission. Procure4 ran a series of workshops with the council to develop their strategic approach, identify key opportunities and deliver an activity plan that would shift the focus from “contract letting” to tangible savings delivery.
Procure4 further supported this transition through provision of a Category Management toolkit together with personal training and support for individuals within the team. To strengthen capability, Procure4’s Talent Management expertise was also used to structure a challenging recruitment process utilising criteria based techniques with candidates.
Finally, Procure4 were asked to support the delivery of key procurement initiatives through deployment of our eAuction expertise whilst advising upon the identification, capture and tracking of savings.
Results
Having supported SCC for over 12 months, Procure4 was able to provide the Head of Procurement with solid pillars by which to underpin his drive for savings; a clear strategic plan with identified key focus areas; improved calibre within the Procurement team through strengthened recruitment processes and category management training; finally an accelerated savings delivery programme using eProcurement techniques, robust audit methodologies and tailored approach strategies balancing the local economy agenda with the ever increasing drive to unlock improved value for money.
Tagged as: Case Study
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