Spotlight on…Amy Madden

In what capacity did you join BiP?

I joined BiP last September as the BI Marketing Executive. I then became the Senior Marketing Executive for Supply2Gov in January this year.

What takes up the most amount of your time in your day-to-day? 

Creating Email Campaigns; they are one of our main resources when campaigning for S2G.

What are the biggest challenges you have in your role – how could colleagues help? 

Not working directly with other people on Supply2Gov, sometimes you need other people to keep you creative. But the wider marketing team are a great support if I ever need to bounce ideas off them!

What do you like most about your job? 

That every day is different. Also, I get a lot of freedom to come up with different marketing strategies and campaigns for Supply2Gov.

What do you like most about working at BiP? 

The people! Everyone is so friendly and sociable.

What does a great day at work look like?

I like to start the day off with a coffee. If I get through my to-do list and registrations for Supply2Gov are on track, it’s always a good day!

Do you have any unusual hobbies? 

I recently started a boxing class. Not quite a pro yet, but it’s fun!

Been anywhere strange? (country/place/bar/tourist attraction?!) 

Not been anywhere strange, but my favourite place I have ever visited has to be New York.

Quick fire: 

  1. Coffee or tea – Coffee
  2. Book or film – Film
  3. Cat or dog – Dog – I have a dog called Ruby.
  4. Hot or cold – Cold
  5. Salty or sweet – Salty
  6. Tattooed or not – Tattooed
  7. Night out or night in – Night out
  8. Email or meeting – Email
  9. Teams calls: video call or audio? Audio
  10. Eating: al-desko, break room or break out altogether – Breakout altogether
  11. Mountain or beach – Beach

Spotlight on…Fraser Haddow

In what capacity did you join BiP? What role did you start in and what role do you have now?

I joined BiP in the role of Scrum Master, but have recently transitioned to Platform Success Manager.

Whattakes up the most amount of your time in your day-to-day? 

Azure DevOps! It’s the platform that allows us to track progress on our product development and keep track of any issues, so it’s use forms a large part of the role.

What do you like most about your job? 

I like seeing a product improvement travel through all the stages from idea to implementation and then deployment, overseeing the journey to completion provides a great sense of satisfaction.

What do you like most about working at BiP? 

I like interacting with lots of people that span multiple departments and roles, this keeps things interesting, and it always helps to see things from other people’s perspectives.

What does a great day at work look like?

It always starts with coffee – then a day with a few meetings (not too little or too many!) and some time to get some work done. Ideally, right now a good day also involves bugs being closed and no new ones being opened.

Do you have any unusual hobbies?

I’m a big movie nerd and am very into low budget/indie horror which is maybe unusual! Music wise, I also am very into death metal and New York hardcore which is a little unusual.

Been anywhere strange? (country/place/bar/tourist attraction?!)

The most fascinating place I’ve been is a city called Varanasi in India – would recommend to anyone, it’s super interesting.

Blow your own! … what do you excel at? Work or leisure

I like to think I’m quite good at guitar and drums. Work wise – I think I’m pretty good at being organised, but my colleagues can tell you if that’s true or not!

Quick fire: 

  1. Coffee or tea – Coffee
  2. Book or film – Film
  3. Cat or dog – Dog (I have a Spanish greyhound)
  4. Hot or cold – Hot
  5. Salty or sweet – Salty
  6. Tattooed or not – Not
  7. Night out or night in – Night in 
  8. Email or meeting – Depends on how many other meetings are on!
  9. Teams calls: video call or audio? – Video
  10. Eating: al-desko, break room or break out altogether – Usually al-desko
  11. Mountain or beach – Beach

Spotlight on…David Stewart

Thanks for joining me, David. How are you enjoying life at BiP?

I really like it, even though it’s taken a while to get to grips with B2B. I came from B2C, so I‘d never done business sales before, but the rewards are starting to come through. I managed to do 175% of my target last month and I’m on track for target this month – if everything goes to plan!

What did you do before coming to BiP?

I had a seven-year career at EE, starting as a part time sales advisor through to managing a couple of shops and being a sales manager for them.

And what would you like to be in the future is there a dream job or a dream position?

Aspirational goals? I’d love to get to director level at some point within a company. So be that Sales Director, Operations Director, that’s my goal

What takes up the most of your day-to-day?

Most of my day is genuine client interaction, customer interaction and reaching out to new prospects. Understanding what their challenges and struggles are to work with the public sector.

And what sort of challenges do your customers have? what sort of challenges can you help solve for them?

The challenges I’m hearing are that they don’t understand how to build the relationships with the public sector buyer before the tenders are published. They need to get in there as early as possible, to develop these relationships and we really are making a difference to their business because they’re not just running a tender, we’re helping them build a relationship for future business.

It’s actually good to know you’re making a difference to somebody when you’re selling something.

Do you prefer to be Working from Home or in the office?

I like being in the office. I like having an atmosphere around me and the support network, your manager and your teammates. I’ve always thrived off a good atmosphere, so I prefer to be in the office than work from home.

Are there any sort of changes or initiatives you’d like to implement into BiP?

I ran a couple of charitable events at EE before, Charity 11 aside football matches and things like that. There’s a lot of buildings around, there’s the BBC, The Village hotel, big corporations, big businesses that I don’t see any reason why they wouldn’t want to get involved in charity stuff like this. It’d be great to implement something like that.

What the biggest challenges you have in your role?

Managing customer timelines and managing my own pipeline. That’s the hardest part of this job. Not knowing when something’s going to come in and when something’s pulled out from under you.

My colleagues and my manager Chris help me regularly with this and are extremely supportive.

What do you like most about your job?

The interaction with people, I’m a big people person. I really enjoy speaking to people in different industries, different businesses and just learning more about what they’re doing for two reasons. It builds up my knowledge of the market in general and lets me understand what businesses are really struggling with. Speaking to people and making a difference is the thing that makes a big difference to me. Speaking to someone about the challenges they’re having, and if I can genuinely fix it for them, that’s what I like most.

What do you like most about working at BiP?

The culture is very good so far and very much gives back as well and looks after its employees.

The support and the culture in the business to make sure everyone succeeds is incredible.

What does a great day at work look like?

A great day looks like this: seeing my name up in that sales board a few times on one day. As soon as a deal comes in, but also coming in to a reasonably filled diary.

Do you have any unusual hobbies?

I’m a very keen badminton player. I’ve been playing for years competitively. I had my own deejaying business for a couple of years as well.

Quick fire.

  1. Coffee or tea – Coffee
  2. Book or film – film
  3. Cat or Dog – Dog, I have a dog.
  4. Hot or cold – I prefer being cold
  5. Salty or sweet – Sweet
  6. Tattooed or not – tattooed
  7. Night out or night in – Night out.
  8. E-mail or meeting – Meeting
  9. Teams call video or audio – Video, always video.
  10. Lunchtime: Al-desko, break room or break out altogether – Break out altogether, I like sitting in the breakout zones.
  11. Mountain or beach – Beach

A Spotlight on….Adam Hughes

As February brings longer days and hopefully less cold and rain, we take turn our staff spotlight on the Marketing Department and Adam Hughes. Adam has been with BiP for a year and a half, beginning as a Marketing Executive. He now leads on marketing for Cadence.

In what capacity did you join BiP? What role did you start in and what role do you have now?

I joined BiP a year and a half ago as the Marketing Executive for BI. I spent around a year in that role and had some great experiences. It’s mad how much you learn here!

I then transitioned into the Marketing Manager role with Cadence and have been doing this for around 6 months. It’s been a rollercoaster so far, but I am hopeful we are starting to head in the right direction!

What takes up the most amount of your time in your day-to-day? 

Spreadsheets! All of my friends think Marketing is making fancy pictures and putting out tweets but marketers spend large parts of their week reporting on marketing activities.

Are there any changes or initiatives you’d like to implement into BiP? As February brings longer days and hopefully less cold and rain, we take turn our staff spotlight on the Marketing Department and Adam Hughes. Adam has been with BiP for a year and a half, beginning as a Marketing Executive. He now leads on marketing for Cadence.

Standing desks would be cool!

What are the biggest challenges you have in your role – how could your colleagues help? 

The target audience for Cadence Marketing are often marketers themselves who have seen every trick in the book. We have to be really convincing and creative when explaining why Cadence can really impact suppliers success.

What do you like most about your job? 

I like that my role involves working with virtually every department of the business, it is very varied. My favourite thing is probably seeing people register for a webinar you are running. It’s great to monitor the leads coming in and seeing that what you have done is working.

What do you like most about working at BiP? 

The people! Everyone is hard at work but will always make time to help. It took me no time to settle in here because everyone was so welcoming.

What does a great day at work look like?

A nice coffee, followed by loads of leads!!

Do you have any unusual hobbies? 

Got a secret addiction to watching the Kardashians

Been anywhere strange? (country/place/bar/tourist attraction?!) 

I toured through Thailand, Vietnam and Cambodia when I was a student which was amazing. Desperate to go back to Vietnam actually.

Blow your own! … what do you excel at? Work or leisure 

Facial hair.

Quick fire, choose one option: 

  1. Coffee or tea – Coffee
  2. Book or film – film
  3. Cat or dog – dog
  4. Hot or cold – cold
  5. Salty or sweet – sweet
  6. Tattooed or not – not (yet…)
  7. Night out or night in – night in
  8. Email or meeting – email
  9. Teams calls: video call or audio? video
  10. Eating: al-desko, break room or break out altogether – al-desko
  11. Mountain or beach – mountain

A spotlight on…. Anne McKinnon

We start 2023 with a look at one of our long-term employees at BiP Solutions, Anne McKinnon. With over 15 years at BiP in public sector sales, Anne knows a thing or two about the company, its people and products.

Anne is responsible for managing UK Public Sector sales team, working closely with business stakeholders, product development and promoting UK leading electronic tendering tool Delta eSourcing.

She’s most recently been involved with the relaunch of Delta, giving one of BiP’s oldest products a fresh new look, bringing new life and energy into the platform and the overall brand itself. The new Delta will energise the evolution of eSourcing and put the Delta brand in a great position to continually adapt and grow in an everchanging industry.

In what capacity did you join BiP? What role did you start in and what role do you have now?

I started my career within the business as a Sales Executive, now knowns as Client Relationship Manager. My role now is Head of eSourcing and Supply Chain.

Any interesting stories from back in the day?

No mad crazy, bad things, just weird coincidences with timing and people.

I was interviewed and offered a job in the Tracker team a few years before but turned it down for another role in another company.

When I did come to work in the Public Sector team, my first day in the role I heard the dulcet tones of someone shouting my name, (you know how you get the fear! Especially when they use your maiden name), turns out it was Sandra Toner who was my classmate in primary and secondary school.

Later that week I met my Business Development Manager I would be partnered with, and it was a very old friend John McGhie I hadn’t seen since I was 10 years old, just over 20 years. Our IT expert back then was Andy Brodie who I worked with before, and it goes on….just seems this place is about timing, people, and good people. Made some long-term friendships here.

What takes up the most amount of your time in your day-to-day?

Now there’s a question LOL.  Client meetings/support/demos, team support, internal meetings.  Never a dull moment.

Are there any changes or initiatives you’d like to implement into BiP?

I think we are already a very progressive and innovative company when it comes to supporting our staff with internal initiatives but also how we affect and deliver change when it’s needed to help support the business strategy and growth. The fact that everyone can and should feel they have a voice within the business is important and hopefully everyone feels this to be true. We all make the business and can help implement changes for the better.

Everyone should make use of the suggestion box via the Hub https://bipsolutionsltd.sharepoint.com/SitePages/BiP-Suggestion-Box.aspx

Selfishly, one bug bear of mine is lunchtime meetings and colleagues inserting meetings into your diary where you don’t have time to breathe in a busy day.

Stop, Start, Continue, something we all need to think about. What can you stop doing, what can you start and continue that adds benefit and value to you, your role and your team.

What are the biggest challenges you have in your role – how could your colleagues help?

Market Changes. Our market within Public Sector is changing all the time, from compliance within the new Procurement Reforms, to requirements on product development to sector specific suppliers and awarding authority collaboration, reshaping the market volume and proposition.

We are looking at a BiP wider portfolio proposition we can offer our core Delta clients to bring them in to the fold and looking at how we are approaching new markets and enhancing our Supply Chain and PASS offering.

Colleagues and business are supportive in developing and marketing a fit for purpose product in Delta eSourcing, which you will have seen from our new Refresh at the end of November, with further development planned in the next 12 months. Core areas of the business play very important roles in what we are achieving from product development, marketing, research and very much so is our sales team and Help desk support team.

Colleagues do help and continue to help, teamwork is key.

We start 2023 with a look at one of our long-term employees at BiP Solutions, Anne McKinnon.

What do you like most about your job?

Building relationships with new and existing clients and chasing a deal.

What do you like most about working at BiP?

Always the same answer…. The people. Some real gems and it’s what makes us who we are and as successful as we are.

What does a great day at work look like?

Ticking off and completing my to do list, solving a problem or removing a hurdle for someone and having time to laugh.

Do you have any unusual hobbies?

Not really, normal stuff like gym, love music, spending a lot of time trying out new cooking recipes, mainly Indian food (love Indian food), spending time with family & friends. I do dabble in some not so mainstream stuff….love a conspiracy theory (or are they?), horror movies, UFO’s, good energy, poetry, and a lot more. Yes, I’m one of a kind.

Been anywhere strange?

Went to Iceland a few years ago with temperatures like -10 and stood in the blue lagoon wearing a bikini, face caked in mud, sipping Prosecco with icicles in my hair while the pool attendants walked around wearing full blown winter wear, boots and balaclava’s LOL just weird but amazing!

Blow your own! … what do you excel at?

I make a mean Indian Pani Puri and Italian meatball.

Can beat the best of them when it comes to doing shots (well mostly LOL).

Being a good friend 😊

Quick fire, choose one option:

  1. Coffee or tea – coffee
  2. Book or film – film
  3. Cat or dog – neither, had every conceivable pet growing up, had enough lol
  4. Hot or cold – hot
  5. Salty or sweet – sweet
  6. Tattooed or not – tattooed
  7. Email or meeting – meeting 100%
  8. Teams calls: video call or audio – video
  9. Night out or night in – in
  10. Eating: al-desko, break room or break out altogether – break room
  11. Mountain or beach –  beach

The next level of business intelligence

BiP Solutions launches improved Tracker service

The next generation of Tracker business intelligence has been launched by BiP Solutions, the leading public sector supply chain specialist.

Building on a 39-year legacy of delivering the best in business intelligence and helping companies find new markets for growth, the refreshed Tracker service brings the next generation of technology to its users.

From humble beginnings with a Portakabin and a photocopier ‒ publishing the first national directory of public sector contracts ‒ to being the first to market with its online Tracker solution, BiP Solutions has been a true pioneer of technology and innovation in the public sector marketplace.

BiP’s purpose is to empower Government and businesses to create a better society for all. Services such as Tracker – which help suppliers identify and engage with public sector opportunities earlier – support Government’s agenda of driving innovation and value; leading to better public services and improved outcomes for the people who use them.

With a refreshed website complementing Tracker’s brand-new look, we have created a slick, intuitive experience for customers, while new product packages provide a wide range of solutions to suit all business types. We’ve made identifying and winning public sector contracts a lot easier!

We know how public sector procurement works, and that experience ensures that our Tracker service can help customers identify the right opportunities and guide them through the tendering process.

Tracker helps customers win more business through access to tailored opportunities, competitor insights and market analysis, with our cutting-edge end-to-end business intelligence platforms. Artificial Intelligence works hard in the background to find further relevant opportunities within the public sector marketplace that customers may not have considered.

To help our customers find their full potential within the public sector, we are offering two new products, suitable for all types of businesses.

Tracker Core

Our classic Core solutions are designed to help customers grow their share of the public and private sector market. With access to Market Intelligence and Market Leads combined with the power of Spend Analysis – they can be confident that their business has an additional resource to support their goals, with all of the insights and opportunities needed for that important competitive edge.

Tracker Pro

Our new Pro solution delivers highly relevant opportunity trend analysis to turbocharge pipeline building and fuel business growth. Using Artificial Intelligence, Pro learns from customer interactions and serves up personalised opportunity results, analysis, and contacts in one seamless, holistic view. Pro is scalable to accommodate unlimited profiles, sectors, and users – the optimal solution for multi-sector businesses.

Simon Burges, CEO of BiP Solutions, said: “I am delighted to announce the launch of our next-generation Tracker service. We have harnessed decades of experience in developing customer-focused business intelligence solutions to bring this intuitive solution to market.

“We see our refreshed Tracker service as the next generation from a tech point-of-view. It also complements our other services that help thousands of suppliers and buyers engage and work successfully together.

“This new Tracker service will help customers surface more opportunities than ever before. We believe Tracker Core and Tracker Pro will enable this investment to be accessed by a far wider supply base; providing buyers with a greater choice of innovative and high-value products and services.”

Take your business to the next level with Tracker now.

Celebrating talent – staff awards

BiP Solutions is proud to announce our quarterly staff recognition award winners.

Our quarterly awards recognise staff excellence across our teams, with the team members nominated by colleagues.

We have three awards which celebrate staff throughout the company over the last quarter: the Sales Excellence Award, to recognise and celebrate exceptional sales performance, an Outstanding Performance Award, to recognise and celebrate exceptional performance, and our Values Award, which is open to all colleagues across the business and is designed to specifically recognise and celebrate colleagues who demonstrate positive behaviours in line with our values.

Once again, the quality of nominations received across each category was exceptional, and the spread of nominations across the different teams in the business, from old colleagues to those who have recently joined us, was impressive.  A great effort from all as always!

This quarter, our winner of the Sales Excellence Award was Dawn MacTaggart.

Dawn’s line manager Alan McMenemy, Head of Sales in Glasgow, said: “Dawn was nominated for this award for many reasons. First and foremost, she’s hit her quarterly target, and hit target for each individual month as well. She also navigated her way around a two-week break in the middle of the quarter and managed her own pipeline effectively to allow for this. Dawn has also been an early adopter of our new BI product suite, and got the first HCI, Tracker-Pro and Contact Data sales. She’s been able to do this by fully investing and immersing herself in the products. Dawn also led the line at P4H and Procurex Scotland, and delivered keynote speeches at both. Last, but not least, Dawn has been really open to coaching and adapting her style to GAP methodology over the past three months. An outstanding nomination for, and worthy winner of, our Q2 Sales Recognition Award.”

Well done, Dawn! Very well deserved.

Our second winner was our lovely Event Coordinator Mhairi MacNeil who won the Outstanding Performance Award.

Mhairi’s line manager, Laura Aitkenhead, had a few words to say: “Mhairi moved into a new role in the Events Team only three weeks before the start of our event season in Q2. The job and skill set are very different to her previous role, but Mhairi jumped straight in and picked up the GO Awards Scotland and Wales, showing a passion for these projects, and a commitment to making them the best events possible. She worked with stakeholders across the business to ensure all requirements were met, showing, after only a short space of time, a clear understanding of the key aspects of this new role. Mhairi really stepped up to the mark and I’m delighted to have her as Co-Ordinator in the Events Team”

Congratulations, Mhairi!

The final winner of our Q2 Awards was Rob Atherton, who was the worthy winner of the Values Award.

Rob’s line manager, Grahame Steed, said: “Rob is a highly deserving recipient of the Values award. He exemplifies our values with his consistently high level of professionalism and openness – whether dealing with external clients or colleagues. He is always willing to embrace change and try new approaches. He is also an excellent content creator who supports his colleagues and strives to deliver outstanding results. Anyone that works with Rob has only positive things to say about their experience, so it’s great to see this recognised.”

Well done, Rob!

The quarterly winners will go through to our finale, held at the annual staff awards dinner, where our overall winners will be crowned.

We look forward to seeing the nominations for next quarter.

Diolch Cymru!

BiP is delighted to continue our awards season, with celebrations at our second Gala evening hosting the GO Awards Wales.

Finally returning as an in-person event, following four years of disruption, our Welsh procurement teams certainly made the most of the event.

The GO Awards showcase the innovation and ingenuity that ensures public spend creates lasting social and economic benefit; and mark the extensive collaborations and partnerships that exist across supply chains. This is the 20th year of the GO Awards programme, which – apart from a national event covering the entire UK – includes Awards for Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.

Celebrating public procurement in Wales at Mercure Cardiff Holland House Hotel & Spa on 9th November, the awards evening highlighted the amazing work that often goes under the radar.

Despite uncertainty and turmoil in the political and economic arena, public procurement simply continues to get on with the job: getting vital stuff done and making a genuine, real-world difference to people’s lives. No drama, no rhetoric, no nonsense: just purpose and delivery.

And the GO Awards Wales was here to do just that, celebrating the people and teams that make procurement happen.

The Awards were judged by leading procurement figures from across Wales and the UK. The panel included: Mark Roscrow MBE Programme Director, NHS Wales Shared Services, Professor Jane Lynch Reader in Procurement and Supply Chain, Cardiff Business School, Liz Lucas MSc, FCIPS Chartered Head of Customer and Digital Services, Caerphilly County Borough Council, Scott Parfitt BA (Hons) MSc FHEA MCIPS Senior Lecturer Procurement Lead, University of South Wales, Grahame Steed Content, Research and Communications Director, BiP Solutions and Eddie Regan Principal Consultant, PASS Procurement​.

The big winner on the night was NHS Wales Shared Services and Partnership which took home the evening’s star category ‘The GO Excellence Award’ as well as succeeding in several other categories, while Mark Roscrow MBE was recognised by GO Awards with a hugely deserved ‘Outstanding Achievement Award’.

All outright category winners now gain automatic finalist status for the UK National Public Procurement Awards, where they will compete against Scotland, Northern Ireland & England, with the UK awards ceremony taking place next year in Birmingham.

BiP is delighted to continue our awards season, with celebrations at our second Gala evening hosting the GO Awards Wales.“Congratulations to all our winners and highly commended entries for their inspiring contributions, and to all our finalists who provided us with such strong competition for these awards. We hope everyone attending had a great evening!”

A big thank you must go to attendees who supported our charity raffle for The Trussell Trust, raising over £1,300.00 in support of their hugely important nationwide network of food banks.

Thanks must also go to our sponsors, Lyreco UK and Ireland, Centrica Business Solutions, IDNS Ltd, Jewson Partnership Solutions, Personal Group, Essity, Mercateo (part of Unite) and Llywodraeth Cymru / Welsh Government, without all of whom the GO Awards Wales would not have been possible.

We look forward now to the UK National GO Awards, the winners of which will be celebrated at our final ceremony in June 2023.

GO Awards Wales 2022/23 winners:

  • Contract and Supplier Management Award (sponsored by Jewson) ‒ NHS Wales Shared Services Partnership
  • Collaborative Procurement Initiative Award (sponsored by Mercateo) ‒ Welsh Government – Musical Instruments Dynamic Purchasing Agreement
  • Social Value Award (sponsored by Essity) ‒ NHS Wales Shared Services Partnership ‒ Displacing single-use medical textiles with more effective zero-carbon zero-waste targeted circular solutions
  • Procurement Delivery Award (sponsored by Personal Group) – Joint winners: NHS Wales Shared Services Partnership – Cardiff and Vale Frontline Procurement
  •  Velindre University NHS Trust & NHS Wales Shared Services Partnership – Integrated Radiotherapy Solution for SE Wales
  • Individual of the Year Award (sponsored by Welsh Government) ‒ Jonathan Irvine – Director, Procurement Services, NHS Wales Shared Services Partnership
  • Procurement Team of the Year (sponsored by IDNS) ‒ Cardiff and Vale Frontline Procurement Team (part of NHS Wales Shared Services Partnership)
  • Outstanding Achievement Award (sponsored by Centrica) ‒ Mark Roscrow MBE
  • GO Excellence Award – (sponsored by Lyreco) – NHS Wales Shared Services Partnership ‒ Displacing single-use medical textiles with more effective zero-carbon, zero-waste targeted circular solutions

Highly Commended:

  • Collaborative Procurement Initiative Award ‒ Digital Health and Care Wales
  • Individual of the Year Award ‒  Helen Rees – Head of Procurement and Contracting, Mid and West Wales Fire and Rescue Service

A spotlight on… Stephen Allan

We’re welcoming Autumn as the clocks go back and we’re commuting in the dark, so let’s catch up with another BiP team member, Stephen Allan in our finance department. Stephen joined in 2018 as a Trainee Management Accountant

In what capacity did you join BiP?

I joined straight from university (well technically whilst still studying).

What does your role in Finance entail?

My main duties include producing the monthly accounts and other financial reports, presenting financials to the SMT & Board, collaborating with different areas of the business, various financial analysis, assisting in the yearly financial audit and lots of different ad-hoc finance related tasks. I spend a lot of time using Excel, Sage & Salesforce.

What do you like most about your job?

I like looking for trends or the reason why things have moved in a certain direction, so the problem-solving element.  

What do you like most about working at BiP?

I have had the opportunity to learn, grow and progress whilst working at BiP. Also, the people really do make BiP – everyone is very welcoming and friendly!

What does a great day at work look like?​​​​​​​

Day one of month end – big cup of coffee and a lot of excel, sage & salesforce reporting!

Do you have any unusual hobbies?

I am really into sim-racing… basically its virtual car racing using VR headsets, motion simulators, wind simulators, fancy steering wheels & pedals – it’s very immersive!

Quick fire, choose one option:

  1. Coffee or tea – Coffee
  2. Book or film – Film
  3. Cat or dog – Dog
  4. Hot or cold – Cold
  5. Salty or sweet – Sweet
  6. Tattooed or not – Not
  7. Night out or night in – Night in
  8. Email or meeting – Either or!
  9. Teams calls: video call or audio? Video call
  10. Eating: al-desko, break room or break out altogether – Desko
  11. Mountain or beach – Beach

Awards season is GO

Recognising Excellence in Procurement and the Supply Chain

BiP Solutions has kicked off the 2022/23 edition of its GO Awards season in style with the presentation of the GO Awards Scotland at the Crowne Plaza hotel in Glasgow.

The GO Awards showcase the innovation and ingenuity that ensures public spend creates lasting social and economic benefit; and mark the extensive collaborations and partnerships that exist across supply chains. This is the 20th year of the GO Awards programme, which – apart from a national event covering the entire UK – includes individual Awards for Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.

October 28th saw Scottish procurement celebrated, alongside the organisations and individuals involved, at an Awards dinner and presentation in Glasgow.

Judged by leading procurement figures from across Scotland and the UK, including: Nick Ford Director of Procurement and Property, Scottish Government​, Julie Welsh Chief Executive, Scotland Excel, Claire McCallum Head of Operational Procurement and Compliance and Deputy Chief Executive, APUC, Paul Hansen Head of Account Management, Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland & Crown Dependencies, Crown Commercial Service, Gordon Beattie Director of NHSS National Procurement, National Services Scotland, Grahame Steed Content, Research and Communications Director, BiP Solutions, Eddie Regan Principal Consultant, PASS Procurement​ and Mark Elliot Director, CivTech Scotland, Scottish Government, these are the awards everyone wants to win.

BiP Solutions has kicked off the 2022/23 edition of its GO Awards season in style with the presentation of the GO Awards Scotland at the Crowne Plaza hotel in Glasgow.

The big winner on the night was Police Scotland, which won both the Procurement Delivery Award and the overall GO Excellence Award for its outstanding work in supporting the COP26 event, hosted in Glasgow.

The University of Strathclyde also had a night to remember with four category wins to celebrate.

All outright category winners now gain automatic qualification to the UK National Public Procurement Awards, to compete against Wales, Northern Ireland & England, culminating with UK awards ceremony taking place in June 2023.

“Once again, Scotland has proved itself to be at the forefront of innovation and best practice within public procurement. It’s been an absolute pleasure to review the many great submissions into this year’s Awards. Each of our winners – and those who were highly commended – deserve huge praise for their achievements. Well done to them and each of our finalists.” said Grahame Steed, Chair, GO Awards Scotland Judging Panel.

The evening also saw a charity raffle take place with more than £3,000 raised for The Trussell Trust, in support of their hugely important nationwide network of food banks.

With such an impressive field of entrants, judges made a number of Highly Commended awards in addition to selecting winners for each category.

BiP Solutions has kicked off the 2022/23 edition of its GO Awards season in style with the presentation of the GO Awards Scotland at the Crowne Plaza hotel in Glasgow.

Winners:

  • Best Net Zero Initiative Award (sponsored by Centrica): University of Strathclyde – Learning and Teaching Building
  • Digital Service Delivery Award (sponsored by Vodafone): University of Strathclyde – Resource Efficient Supply and Manufacturing Environment (RESuME)
  • Contract and Supplier Management Award (sponsored by Apogee): NHS Scotland National Procurement Covid Testing Team – Manufacture, Supply, Distribution and Collection for COVID-19 Test Kits across Scotland
  • Collaborative Procurement Initiative Award (sponsored by Pertemps): Scotland Excel – Energy Efficiency Contractors Framework
  • Social Value Award (sponsored by Softcat): Morrison Construction, British Association for Supported Employment (BASE) & Scottish Prison Service – Women’s National Facility Project
  • Supply Chain Diversity Award (sponsored by APS Group): Scotland Excel – Improving Local Capability and Economic Growth through Community Wealth Building
  • Best Infrastructure or Capital Project Award (sponsored by CR Smith): University of Strathclyde – Learning and Teaching Programme
  • Procurement Delivery Award (sponsored by SPA): Glasgow City Council – Education Counselling & Police Scotland – COP26 Glasgow Procurement Delivery
  • Individual Achievement of the Year Award (sponsored by Service Graphics): David Taggart, Category Manager, NHS National Services Scotland & Fiona Hughes, Deputy Director of Finance, Procurement, University of Strathclyde Services Scotland
  • Procurement Team of the Year Award (sponsored by Epson UK): ScotRail Trains Limited – ScotRail’s Journey to Public Sector Procurement
  • GO Excellence Award (sponsored by Computacenter UK): Police Scotland – COP26 Glasgow Procurement Delivery

Highly Commended Awards went to:

  • Best Net Zero Initiative Award: Commercial & Procurement Shared Service & Aberdeen City Council
  • Contract and Supplier Management Award: Scottish Fire and Rescue Service, Supplier Development Programme & Robertson FM
  • Collaborative Procurement Initiative Award: NHS National Procurement Scotland, Scottish Microbiology Virology Network, Public Health Scotland, Scottish Government Covid Testing Policy, Covid Regional Hubs, NSS Clinical Directorate & NHS Assure
  • Social Value Award: NHS National Procurement, National Services Scotland & Public Health Scotland
  • Procurement Team of the Year Award: Scottish Government Procurement, Capability and Contract Management Team
  • Special thanks to all our sponsors, without whom this event would not be possible: Vodafone Business, Centrica Business Solutions, Apogee, Pertemps, Softcat, APS Group, CR Smith Manufacturing, Scottish Procurement Alliance, Service Graphics, Epson UK, Computacenter UK

Our next awards night is GO Awards Wales, we look forward to welcoming all the finalists to Mercure Hotel, Cardiff, on 8th November 2022.

BiP Solutions Limited is a company registered in Scotland with Company Number SC086146 and VAT number 383030966 and having its registered office at Medius, 60 Pacific Quay, Glasgow, G51 1DZ.

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