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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 IrelandCentrica Business SolutionsIDNS LtdJewson Partnership SolutionsPersonal GroupEssity, 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

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.

20 years of the GO Awards

Celebrating public procurement professionals – the 2022/23 procurement awards season is GO!

The 2022/23 GO Awards season is underway, and this year BiP Solutions is proud to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the awards, which were established in 2002 with the aim of recognising excellence in public procurement across the UK.

Celebrating procurement across the UK at the UK National GO Awards.

The first event this season will be the GO Awards Scotland this autumn, shortly followed by the GO Awards Wales. Entries for both are now open, so if your organisation has achieved great results in the past year and your procurement team deserves recognition for their fantastic achievements then we’d love to hear about it. Register to enter today.

Celebrating 20 years

Having worked extensively in public procurement since it was founded in 1984, BiP established the GO Awards as a means of showcasing best practice from organisations across the public, private and third sectors, especially those whose innovations, initiatives and advancements in the delivery of public services have helped to make the UK a world leader in smart and effective procurement.

We’re delighted to announce the launch of GO Awards Scotland 2022/23, alongside an exciting new website, we've also launched our 22/23 categories.

Even before the events of the past couple of years, procurement was rapidly evolving as part of its transformation from back-office function to strategic player. Then it became front page news as the COVID-19 pandemic took hold, and even as we head back towards normality, public service delivery will be at the forefront of the economic recovery.

That’s why, 20 years on from its beginning, the GO Awards is now more important than ever before, and has gone on to become the leading public procurement excellence awards in the UK, where the standard of entries continues to rise every year.

New awards

The GO Awards has a range of categories, recognising achievements in everything from contract delivery to COVID-19 response. To mark its 20th anniversary, and to keep in line with the latest evolution in procurement, four new categories have been launched for Scotland and Wales:

  • Best Net Zero Initiative
  • Contract and Supplier Management
  • Supply Chain Diversity
  • Collaborative Procurement Initiative

Enter today

If your team in Scotland or Wales has demonstrated outstanding work in procurement then an evening at the GO Awards makes the perfect reward, as well as offering you the chance to learn from other excellent examples of best practice and set new goals for the future.

©Sandy Young / scottishphotographer.com

Entries for the GO Awards Scotland, which are supported by the Scottish Government, close on 6 September, after which all entries will be judged by leading procurement figures from across Scotland and the UK. The big night will then take place at the Crowne Plaza Hotel in Glasgow on Thursday 27 October 2022.

For Wales, entries will close on 21 September, with the GO Awards Wales being hosted at the Mercure Hotel in Cardiff on Tuesday 8 November 2022.

Organisations can register on the GO Awards website, where they will be able to write and submit their entries, learn more about this season’s awards, and be the first to receive updates and exclusive registrant benefits.

Good luck, and we’ll hope to see you this autumn!

The power of procurement ‒ GO Awards 2022

Celebrating procurement across the UK at the UK National GO Awards.

May 25th saw the procurement community from across the UK come together to celebrate the achievements they have realised over the past year at the National GO Awards.

The well-established GO Awards bring together the best procurement has to offer, for a night of recognition and celebration of the people and teams who make it happen.

Celebrating procurement across the UK at the UK National GO Awards.

These Awards celebrate people and teams from across the entire UK, with many of our finalists previously successful in the GO Awards Northern Ireland, Wales or Scotland.

It was not just all about procurement, as our guests were entertained by the mind-bending Graham P Jolley!

Procurement in the spotlight

The profile of public procurement has never been higher. This is an area of massive strategic and operational importance with influence over billions of pounds of public money and many millions of lives. Recent events have underlined just how critical it is.

Celebrating procurement across the UK at the UK National GO Awards.

This year’s nominations included some amazing, transformative projects, as well as responses to the pandemic. In their deliberations, the judges commented how impressed they were with the calibre of projects that had been nominated and what a difficult time they had deciding on the winners – which was confirmed by the number of Highly Commended awards that were presented on the night.

Judges for the Awards boasted a huge amount of procurement experience from across the UK and the entire public sector: Preeya Bailey, John Coyne, Nick Ford, Ying Han, Tracy Harrison, Alison Lisett, Jane Lynch, Eddie Regan, Steven Sinclair, Grahame Steed and Keri Wilkins.

EXCEL-lent nominations

With 14 awards categories, and a final award presented to the overall winner, it was a packed night for procurement. The categories were closely contested, and the overall winner showed just what a difference procurement can make to society.

The overall winner of the GO Excellence Award was Scotland Excel for its New Build Residential Construction project, which so far has created 2800 affordable homes across Scotland

Having consulted extensively with local authorities and the market, Scotland Excel established a framework agreement that constituted an efficient, comprehensive and quick route to market for buyers.

In addition, the winning project focused not only on social value but on environmental sustainability ‒ including energy efficiency and offsite construction ‒ to enable framework users to procure gold and silver standard homes, all at an affordable price.

Partners have received an approximately 300% return on investment and the project has exceeded its savings target by 40% ‒ so affordable, green and a creator of savings. A thoroughly deserved winner!

A full list of winners can be found here.

Valuable support

BiP Solutions is the event organiser. For 38 years we have been part of public procurement’s incredible success story: and since 2002 we have been measuring its evolution as a profession and public service through the GO Awards programme.

Headline sponsor for the evening was London Construction Programme, with category sponsorship coming from: Centrica Business Solutions, Commercial Services Group, Delta eSourcing, EDF Energy, Greenham, ISS, Lyreco, Service Graphics and Tracker.

Inspiring examples

Simon Tse, Chief Executive ‒ Crown Commercial Service, commented on the Awards:

The importance of public sector procurement has been in the spotlight during this crisis. I have seen some inspiring examples of innovation, speed of action and dedication. Each year the GO Awards feature yet more remarkable features of customer service, collaboration and creativity. As always at this event, we will celebrate and share what we have learned.”

Stand with Ukraine

The night was not all about celebration. Standing with Ukraine, BiP Solutions held a raffle in aid of the DEC Ukraine Humanitarian Appeal. With some amazing prizes on offer, including: a Tyson Fury boxing glove, kindly donated by BiP Solutions, two bottles of champagne donated by the NEC, an overnight stay at the Hilton and three Executive Club tickets for Manchester United, the raffle and donations throughout the night raised an amazing £3250.

Thanks to all the attendees who contributed to the fund.

We’re delighted to announce the launch of GO Awards Scotland 2022/23, alongside an exciting new website, we've also launched our 22/23 categories.

Join the winners at this year’s Go Awards, Scotland nominations have opened!

Send in your entry here.

Celebrating public procurement at GO Awards Scotland

Hundreds of procurement experts gathered at the Crowne Plaza in Glasgow to celebrate their achievements at the GO Awards Scotland.

Organised by BiP Solutions and sponsored by Lyreco, the GO Awards celebrated the delivery of critical public services in Scotland over the past year, with eight different awards up for grabs.

Nick Ford, Director of Procurement and Commercial at the Scottish Government delivered the opening address while Sarah Heaney was host for the evening.

“I think it’s fair to say that the profile and importance of public procurement has never been higher; in Scotland and across the rest of the UK”, Heaney stated. “So these are an awards for everyone involved – buyers and all involved in the supply chain that delivers vital public services.”

“But of course, we must recognise the achievement of each of our finalists. Regardless of the outcome tonight, each has taken the time to put their work in the spotlight and to help progress standards in procurement for all.”

Winning the biggest prize of the night – the GO Excellence Award, was Scottish Government Digital, in partnership with NHS National Services Scotland and Public Health Scotland for creating a service to collect contact data from visitors for various venues during the height of the pandemic.

They were eligible for this award after also winning the COVID Outstanding Response Award (Public Sector) for the same project.

Also picking up double accolades, The City of Edinburgh Council, won the Continuous Improvement Award and the Health and Wellbeing Award for their Thrive Edinburgh project, which helped to simplify the delivery of vital mental health services in the city.

The first award of the night, the Social Value Award, went to Aberdeen City Council, who along with Aberdeenshire CouncilNHS Grampian and Neos Networks, were rewarded for their work relating to the ‘Gigabit Connectivity Framework’ to improve and deliver digital connectivity to public sites.

“I can’t take the credit for this project but it was a real team effort and they will all be delighted back at the office. With any collaborative project there is always difficulties but they did a great job and this award is testament to that”, said Fiona Conti, Strategic Procurement Manager at Aberdeen City Council.

Scotland Excel were crowned winners of the Best Procurement Delivery Award for their support in the delivery of the Scottish Government’s £3 billion Affordable Housing Supply Programme, while Sykes Global and NHS National Services Scotland won the COVID-19 Outstanding Response Award (Private Sector) for their creation and delivery of COVID test kits.

“It has been fantastic to be back at government awards and to celebrate the success of the team together. The biggest challenge on this project was the sheer scale of delivery with so many people involved, but we were driven by wanting to get the best outcome for people and we’re proud to have one that”, said Steve Brannagan, Head of Customer & Business Services at Scotland Excel.

Finally, Glasgow City Council won the Procurement Team of the Year Award following their successful procurement of a new fleet of green vehicles for their city.

Among those presenting the awards was Grahame Steed, Content, Research and Communications Director at BiP Solutions. “Given the challenges we have seen facing public procurement in recent years, the GO Awards Scotland were a fantastic opportunity for some teams to earn the recognition they deserve for their hard work in such difficult times, and the standard was as high as ever.”

“It was great to see everyone in person again, and we congratulate all those who took home a GO Awards Scotland trophy, as well as all the finalists who submitted such strong entries. We look forward to seeing all our category winners again in Birmingham on 25 May for the UK GO Awards.”

For those hoping to join Scotland’s winners at the GO Awards UK, the deadline for entries has been extended to Monday 25 April, so submit your entry while there’s still time, and we may just see you at the Hilton Metropole in Birmingham on the big night!

Find out more about entering here, and good luck! https://www.goawards.co.uk/national/

“Good for business, good for communities”: Local economies and procurement at Procurex Scotland 2019

Procurex Scotland 2019 and the 15th Scottish Government National Procurement Conference were held this year on 29 October at the SEC, Glasgow. You can access our event report on procurement and sustainability here. In the second of our reports looking back at some of the highlights and key themes of the day, six weeks on, we look at the links between procurement and social benefit. Although considering social value as part of any procurement exercise has been mandatory for buying organisations since 2012, buyers and suppliers are increasingly aware that areas such as environmental impact, community activities and contribution to the local economy are increasingly important to service users, employees and businesses. As the talks at Procurex Scotland and the Scottish Government National Procurement Conference showed, considering social impact is also good for business too, with community sustainability going hand in hand with economic growth.

The local economy agenda

Kate Forbes MSP at Procurex Scotland 2019

A keynote address from Kate Forbes MSP, Minister for Public Finance and Digital Economy, began the Scottish Government National Procurement Conference. Ms Forbes’ talk was a survey of many of the ways in which procurement can effect change, on a local and global level. Insisting that “there is great collective power in this room,” Ms Forbes described the need to “build resilience into our own organisations, but also organisations we have dealings with.”

Emphasising the role of building sustainable economies at the local level, Ms Forbes stated that “it’s easy to look at the national picture without realising how powerful the local picture is.” She pointed out that issues of corporate responsibility such as paying a real living wage or addressing gender inequality in the workplace are not simply beneficial for their own sake, but stimulate local economies – in turn feeding back into business. Reminding the Conference audience that “your spend creates £10bn of economic activity,” Ms Forbes underlined the extent to which procurement has a major role to play in stimulating local economies.

An important element of contributing to local economies, as was addressed by several of the day’s speakers, is the role of SMEs. The Supply2Gov tender alerts service allows SMEs to be alerted to upcoming opportunities, through access to the UK and Republic of Ireland’s largest database of public sector contracts. With a particular focus on organisations newer to public sector tendering, Supply2Gov allows businesses to access alerts from the whole of the UK, or simply a local area of their choosing, free of charge. For buyers looking to work more with SMEs, CompeteFor exists to deliver sustainable and measurable community benefits through ‘opening up’ major supply chains from capital expenditure projects to SMEs and local businesses. Aiming for transparency of opportunities through the entire supply chain, CompeteFor’s free service enables businesses to compete for contract opportunities linked to major buying organisations in both the public and private sector – increasing the diversity of organisations participating in the supply chain, and ensuring ethical transparency throughout.

Local communities, national benefits

Scott Bell at the National Procurement Conference

Following Ms Forbes was Scott Bell, Deputy Director of Procurement Development and Construction with the Scottish Government, whose talk focused on specific instances of procurement success that have had wider community benefits. These included the case of a school in Inverclyde which, thanks to a national framework, was able to provide iPads for some of its poorest pupils to use in class, along with the necessary training for teachers; and the ‘baby box’ delivered to every new parent in Scotland, a GO Award-winning project delivered by APS Group. However, as Mr Bell pointed out, the benefits of procurement “are not just about the contract.” By way of example, he pointed to the case of a family in South Uist who were able to have a new boiler fitted in their home – after having to use an oil burner for heat – thanks to the Warmworks scheme. Aside from the benefit to the family, Mr Bell pointed to the fact that Warmworks is a collaboration between a business, a third sector organisation and a charity. The procurement process itself therefore and the collaboration are “good for business, good for employees and good for communities.” Introducing the National Performance Framework, Mr Bell explained that it “describes the Scotland we aspire to.” Despite – or because of – showing the benefits that can be achieved through the procurement process as well as the end result, Mr Bell impressed on delegates that “purpose beats process.”

A seemingly very different topic was addressed in the talk by Paul McNeill, Head of Community Development at Scottish Football. Mr McNeill said that “the impact of football is far bigger than 22 men running about a field”, claiming that “every household in Scotland has some kind of engagement with football” – from supporting teams as fans to working for a business that sponsors or is involved in providing building materials for stadiums. Mr McNeill said that the Scottish FA recognised a need to “take responsibility for being the country’s biggest sport,” and to communicate better the social and business benefits of football to Scotland. Looking at the “social return on investment,” Mr McNeill talked about the economic, social and health, as well as financial, benefits of grassroots football, and the importance of making sure these benefits are communicated widely.

Paul McNeill of the Scottish FA

Beside the financial importance of football for Scotland and Scottish communities, which Mr McNeill made very clear, the link between football and procurement more widely may not seem immediately obvious. However, there was an interesting discussion between Mr Bell and Mr McNeill after the latter’s talk, which made clear how the two fields can learn from each other. Mr McNeill’s talk made clear, said Mr Bell, the importance of leadership space, and how strategic thinking from leaders in key positions can ensure that a wider agenda, and the benefits that it will have, are communicated clearly to both end-users and stakeholders. Moreover, said Mr Bell, “the place agenda features very highly” for procurement in Scotland, with an increased focus on benefiting local economies and communities, which – as the talks at the National Procurement Conference showed – have a positive effect on sustaining economic growth. The Scottish FA provides “a great example,” Mr Bell noted, “of taking something national and applying it locally” – making apparent how a large-scale national industry can benefit local communities, as well as showing how small-scale local economic growth can scale up.

Sharing best practice, celebrating success

The strength of Scottish procurement in tackling local issues was also recognised in a keynote talk by Malcolm Harrison, CEO of the Chartered Institute of Procurement and Supply (CIPS), and Nikki Archer, Deputy Director, Head of Procurement and Commercial Policy & Strategy and Head of Procurement Profession with the Scottish Government. Kicking off the GO Excellence Live Stage at Procurex Scotland, Mr Harrison and Ms Archer, interviewed by Scotland Tonight presenter Rona Dougall, described some of the major trends and challenges currently facing procurement in Scotland.

Malcolm Harrison, Nikki Archer and Rona Dougall at the GO Excellence Live Stage

Mr Harrison suggested that “there are areas where Scotland is leading best practice internationally,” particularly noting social value and the impact on local communities. Ms Archer agreed that “the holistic approach [Scotland] takes is unique.” Ms Archer said that assuring social value and a positive wider impact through procurement is “not a tick-box exercise,” urging delegates to look at priorities in individual cases. For example, where a supply chain includes a high proportion of SMEs, Ms Archer suggested that focusing on the local economy impact would be particularly important. This is not always a simple fix, however, and Ms Archer added that “buyers deserve recognition for managing these challenges.”

The GO Awards series of events aims to recognise and celebrate excellence in all aspects of procurement from across the UK, from the public, private and third sectors. As Mr Harrison and Ms Archer kicked off a series of interviews with nominees for this year’s GO Awards Scotland, Ms Archer said that while the procurement environment in Scotland is unique, it is important for Scottish procurement leaders to share best practice with colleagues in Wales and Northern Ireland too. The GO Awards Northern Ireland and GO Awards Wales 2020 events will take place on 10 March and 18 March, respectively, and entries are now open. As well as celebrating organisations’ success and innovation in procurement, the Awards are a great opportunity for teams to share best practice with colleagues and potential partners, including in areas such as Social Value, Environmental Impact and Supplier Relationship Management. See the full list of categories here. The nominations will be announced at the end of January, so enter your organisation or team soon to make sure their success is recognised.

GO Awards Scotland 2019: Celebrating Procurement Success in Style

GO Awards Scotland 2019 trophies

This year’s GO Awards Scotland presentation took place on 29 October at the Marriott Hotel, Glasgow, celebrating the best in all aspects of public procurement in Scotland.

Celebrating Scottish Innovation

Malcolm Harrison and Nikki Archer interviewed by Rona Dougall at the GO Awards Procurement Excellence Live Stage

The Awards ceremony itself, as part of the Scottish Festival of Procurement, was preceded by the 15th Annual Scottish Government National Procurement Conference and Procurex Scotland, taking place at the SEC Glasgow on the same day. A major focus of the day was the unique innovations that set Scottish procurement apart – exactly what the GO Awards celebrate.

Procurex Scotland included the GO Awards Procurement Excellence Live Stage, hosted by Scotland Tonight host Rona Dougall. After a joint interview with Malcolm Harrison, Chief Executive of the Chartered Institute of Procurement and Supply, and Nikki Archer, Head of Procurement and Commercial Policy & Strategy and Head of Procurement Profession at the Scottish Government, several of this year’s GO Awards Scotland finalists were interviewed onstage to describe the innovations that had led our judges to name them as finalists. Finalists interviewed included APS Group, Police Scotland, and Scotland Excel and Scotland’s Bravest Manufacturing Company. There was also a ‘one year on’ interview with Lawrence Shackman from Transport Scotland, winners of last year’s GO Awards Scotland GO Excellence Award. Mr Shackman described the GO Awards as “a really fun Awards ceremony. I’ve been to other awards and nothing really compares!”

The GO Awards Scotland Presentation Ceremony

The evening presentation ceremony kicked off in style, with a black-tie champagne reception before guests were welcomed by a traditional piper. Presenter Rona Dougall welcomed guests before the official opening address from Ainslie McLaughlin, Director of Scottish Procurement and Commercial at the Scottish Government. Guests were then introduced to the work of the GO Awards official charity partner, the Realising Dreams Foundation.

Over the course of the evening, across 11 categories, awards were presented to 11 winners and seven Highly Commended entrants. The full list of Winners and Highly Commended entrants is available here.

The Awards presentation culminated with the GO Excellence Award. Unlike other awards, organisations cannot enter this category; instead, nominees are chosen directly by the GO Awards judging panel from among the rest of the evening’s winners. With an especially strong crop of entries this year, finalists for the GO Excellence Award were Multiplex Construction Europe Ltd and the University of Glasgow; Child Bereavement UK; and APS Group (Scotland) Ltd. While all these entries were outstanding, the overall winner was the team from Multiplex Construction Europe Ltd and the University of Glasgow, for their campus development work and its focus on integrating social value and community benefit into the project.

Multiplex Construction ltd and University of Glasgow winning GO Excellence Award

Multiplex Construction Ltd and University of Glasgow – celebrating in style!

After the Awards, the festivities continued with entertainment from two-time Scottish Comedian of the Year finalist Ray Bradshaw, performing simultaneously in English and British Sign Language, and the results of the Realising Dreams Foundation charity raffle, which saw the top prizes of a signed Scotland football shirt and an overnight stay at the Marriott Hotel raise hundreds of pounds for the charity, helping to support the dreams of many talented young people.

Comedian Ray Bradshaw had the audience laughing

What’s Next?

Congratulations once again to all finalists, and especially to all Award winners. Many of the fascinating stories behind some of the evening’s winning entries will be available on the GO Awards site Winners’ Journeys page soon – be sure to visit the page to learn more about their innovations, achievements and best practice examples.

All GO Awards Scotland Winners qualify for automatic finalist status at the GO Awards National, to be held on 22 April at the Hilton Metropole Hotel, Birmingham. The GO Awards National bring together winners from Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland with new entries from across the UK. Entries will open soon – why not share your procurement success story?

Congratulations to all this year’s Award winners!

Photographs 1, 2, 4, 5, 6: www.scottishphotographer.com

GO Awards Scotland 2019/20 Finalists Announced

GO Awards Scotland logo

The finalists for the GO Awards Scotland have been announced.

Celebrating the best in all aspects of public procurement from across the public, private and third sectors in Scotland, the GO Awards Scotland presentation ceremony will take place at the Marriott Hotel, Glasgow in Birmingham on 29th October. The standard of entries this year was very high, so we would like to extend our congratulations to all nominees, and thank everyone who entered.

All entries will be reviewed by our judging panel comprised of experts from across Scottish procurement. You can learn more about the judges here.

The full list of finalists is as follows:

Social Value Award

sponsored by Remploy Scotland

  • Balfour Beatty
  • City of Edinburgh Council & Wildact Solutions
  • Dumfries and Galloway Council, Dumfries and Galloway LGBT Plus, Dumfries and Galloway Multicultural Association, DGVoice, LGBT Youth Scotland & Third Sector Dumfries and Galloway
  • Multiplex Construction Europe Ltd & University of Glasgow
  • National Services Scotland, for entry: Product Donation – Northern Iraq
  • National Services Scotland, for entry: National Catheter Passport
  • Nurse Directorate for NHS Scotland, Scottish Government Workforce Directorate, National Services Scotland, National Procurement, Dimensions Clothing, Haven PTS, Developing the Young Workforce, National Education Scotland (NES), NHS Scotland Health Boards
  • Perth and Kinross Council & Balfour Beatty
  • Scotland Excel & Scotland’s Bravest Manufacturing Company
  • Scottish Procurement Alliance, Lintel Trust, Hawthorn Housing Co-Operative, Linstone Housing Association, Perth and Kinross Council, South Ayrshire Council,Wheatley Group, River Clyde Homes, Cairn Housing Association, Clyde Valley Housing Association, Paisley Housing Association, South Lanarkshire Council, Dundee City Council, Angus Council & Barrhead Housing Association
  • South Ayrshire Council
  • University of Strathclyde

Best Service Award – Micro and Small Businesses and Third Sector Organisations

sponsored by Scotland Excel

  • Carnegie Clinical Research Ltd
  • Cenefits & City of Edinburgh Council
  • Child Bereavement UK
  • Health by Science
  • H&W Forestry Services
  • Scotia Books Ltd

Best Service Award – Medium and Large Organisations

sponsored by Lyreco

  • ACL Hire
  • APS Group (Scotland) Limited
  • Hadden Group, Perth and Kinross Council at Scott Street & Perth College UHI
  • McConechy’s Tyre Services Ltd
  • Pertemps
  • Retinue Health, NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde, NHS Lanarkshire, NHS Forth Valley & NHS Dumfries and Galloway

Best Environmental Impact Award

  • South Ayrshire Council
  • Scottish Government & Scottish Futures Trust
  • University of Strathclyde
  • Stirling Council, Scottish Water, Horizons & Scottish Government Low Carbon Infrastructure Transition Programme (LCITP)

Infrastructure or Capital Project of the Year

sponsored by Zscaler

  • NHS Orkney
  • Perth and Kinross Council & Balfour Beatty
  • Transport Scotland
  • University of Edinburgh

Market Development Award

sponsored by APS Group

  • City of Edinburgh Council
  • Kibble Education and Care Centre working in partnership with the Scottish Government, Strathclyde University, The Fostering Network, Who Cares? Scotland & CELCIS
  • NHS National Services Scotland, National Procurement
  • South Ayrshire Council

Procurement Project of the Year (sub-£20m value)

sponsored by Scottish Procurement Alliance (part of the LHC Group)

  • NSS National Procurement Equipping Sourcing Team, working with NSS Health Facilities Scotland Equipping Team
  • Police Scotland, for entry: Provision of a National Network for Police Scotland
  • Police Scotland, for entry: The Supply and Delivery of Body Armour, Ancillary Items and Services
  • South Ayrshire Council
  • Stirling Council

Procurement Project of the Year (above £20m value)

sponsored by ACL Hire Ltd.

  • Department for International Development
  • National Services Scotland
  • Police Scotland

Supplier Relationship Management Award

sponsored by SOTI

  • APUC Ltd
  • City of Glasgow College
  • EDF Energy & Scottish Procurement

Team of the Year

sponsored by Softcat

  • Supplier Development Programme
  • Scottish Borders Council
  • City of Glasgow College
  • Scotland Excel, Scottish Government & Hey Girls
  • Highlands and Islands Enterprise
  • Scottish Government
  • University of Edinburgh
  • City of Edinburgh Council
  • University of Strathclyde

GO Excellence Award

sponsored by Badenoch & Clark

Finalists will be announced on the evening of the Awards from winners of the other categories.

GO Awards Scotland lead judge Grahame Steed said of the finalists:

I’m delighted to see such a strong array of finalists in this year’s GO Awards Scotland. Each has made it through the first phase of judging and deserve recognition for their achievement. Once again, we have a diverse range of finalists from across the entire nation, demonstrating how vibrant and progressive public sector procurement is in Scotland.

To learn more about the GO Awards Scotland and secure your place at the presentation ceremony, click here.

“One of the greatest showcases for innovation”: Procurex National 2019

The UK’s premier public procurement showcase, Procurex National 2019, took place at the NEC, Birmingham on 30 April, welcoming over 1400 delegates from both the public and private sectors. Across the four Skills Development Zones and the Public Sector Solutions Live Stage, attendees were able to enjoy a wealth of training sessions, talks by subject matter experts from all areas of the procurement landscape, and product showcases.

You can see some of the highlights from the day below.

Public Sector Solutions Live

The Public Sector Solutions Live Stage saw keynote talks from six leading experts in procurement representing the public, private and third sectors. The first speaker, Malcolm Harrison, CEO of the Chartered Institute of Procurement & Supply (CIPS), stressed the need for social value at every stage of the supply chain. Mr Harrison warned against the misconception that social value is only important in local government procurement, as it is now equally important to central government in many countries across the world and in the private sector too.

You can still deliver value for money while embracing social value and the local economy agenda” – Malcolm Harrison, CEO, CIPS

The theme of social value continued in keynote talks from Mark Roberts and Claire Smart. Mr Roberts, Continuous Commercial Improvement Director at the Cabinet Office, emphasised: “A number of organisations – not just in the public sector – are stressing the need for social value. This is something we need to learn about from a variety of stakeholders.” Ms Smart, Procurement Director for the National Trust, spoke about the lessons that the charity sector and the public sector can learn from each other in procurement. Ms Smart highlighted that while many working in public procurement may find legislation such as OJEU restrictive, the absence of such rules for the charity sector can prove difficult: “Rules can distract, but they also professionalise.”

Talks from David Brown, Project Director of Online Marketplace for Dubai Expo 2020, and Adam Stewart, Regional Manager, UK Public Sector for Google Cloud, gave delegates the chance to learn more about these two innovative digital services.

The final keynote talk of the day was delivered by Simon Tse, Chief Executive of the Crown Commercial Service (CCS). Mr Tse began his talk by saying: “Procurex continues to be one of the greatest showcases for the innovation that drives public service. It offers tremendous opportunities for us all to collaborate.”

Mr Tse’s wide-ranging talk addressed areas such as the strategic goals of CCS, the balance between social value and financial savings, and the differing challenges faced by larger organisations and SMEs.

Market Support and Engagement Zone

This year at Procurex National’s Market Support and Engagement Zone delegates were given their very own ‘Passport to Early Engagement’ – as well as a complimentary BiP-branded flight pillow.

The teams on stand (Supply2Gov, Cyber Essentials, Tracker Intelligence, and Media & Marketing Solutions) were there to direct public procurement professionals to the solutions that can help their organisations to fly high.

‘Flyers’ were also given the chance to mix business and pleasure as the stand hosted a ‘paper planes’ UX competition, with the winner grabbing an experience day prize.

GO Excellence in Public Sector Procurement Live Stage

The afternoon saw several of the finalists for the evening’s UK National Government Opportunities (GO) Excellence in Public Procurement Awards 2019/20 interviewed ahead of the evening’s gala Awards presentation. Representatives of finalist organisations including Scan4Safety, the Bank of England, iHELP and the Department for International Development described what prompted their procurement exercises, some of the unique challenges they faced, and their excitement about the possibility of winning an award.

David Smith, chair of the GO Awards judging panel, told the gathered nominees that “procurement people are probably the most important in any organisation.” After the interviews, every finalist was presented with a certificate announcing their nomination.

What’s next?

PH4 England is happening on 4 July 2019 at the NEC, Birmingham.

Register interest or contact us today to discuss booking your 2019 exhibition or sponsorship package asap.

UK National GO Awards 2019/20

Celebrating the best in public procurement from across the UK, this year’s National GO Awards took place on 30th April at the Hilton Metropole Hotel in Birmingham.  The event brought together winners from the GO Awards Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland over the last 12 months with new entrants for a night of festivities and sharing of best practice, leadership and innovation.

The glittering black-tie event was hosted by TV presenter Sarah Heaney, and gave finalists to share their success stories and have their achievements recognised.

The event also saw an official opening address from Simon Tse, the Chief Executive of the Crown Commercial Service, who stressed the need to celebrate the sometimes under-appreciated wider importance of procurement in the UK.

This year there were 16 categories, plus the GO Excellence Award, with many categories from previous years split to recognise different types of organisation. This testifies to both the quantity and quality of entries. The judging panel, made up of experts in the field of procurement, stressed that this year’s batch of entries was among the strongest ever, with chair of the judging panel David Smith commenting that:

I believe the standard of the awards has improved greatly over the years. The winners in the categories this year are as good if not better than any other year.

See some of the highlights of the evening here:

GO Awards presentation

Although many of the evening’s winners and highly commended entrants represented previously recognised entries from the GO Awards Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, there were also many winners from among the new entrants. A full list of winners and highly commended entrants is below – congratulations to them all!

GO Social and Community Benefit in Procurement Award – Local Authority, Consortia and Housing

Winner: Liverpool City Council
Highly Commended: Tai Tarian

Liverpool Council – clearly pleased to have won!

GO Social and Community Benefit in Procurement Award – Other Organisations

Winner: Department for Infrastructure, Graham Farrans Joint Venture & AECOM
Highly Commended: Scottish Government – SG Procurement, Contract Management and Capability Team

GO Best Service Award – Micro and Small Businesses and Third Sector Organisations

Winner: Ingenica Solutions & Taunton and Somerset NHS Foundation Trust
Highly Commended: AdviseInc Ltd.

GO Best Service Award – Medium & Large Organisations

Winner: Warmworks Scotland
Highly Commended: Hays & Birmingham City Council

GO Procurement Innovation of the Year Award – Taking the procurement function forward – Health and Social Care

Winner: Scan4Safety & the Department of Health and Social Care
Highly Commended: Angus Council / Angus Health and Social Care Partnership
Highly Commended: Leicestershire County Council

GO Procurement Innovation of the Year Award – Taking the procurement function forward – Health and Social Care (NHS Organisations)

Winner: University Hospitals of North Midlands NHS Trust & Royal Wolverhampton NHS Trust
Highly Commended: NHS Midlands and Lancashire Commissioning Support Unit & NHS West Lancashire Clinical Commissioning Group
Highly Commended: NHS South, Central and West Commissioning Support & NHS England

GO Procurement Innovation of the Year Award – Taking the procurement function forward – Local Government, Central Government and Other Organisations

Winner: Kent Police & Essex Police
Highly Commended: Kirklees Council

GO Infrastructure Project of the Year

Winner: Transport Scotland – Forth Replacement Crossing

GO Procurement Leadership of the Year Award – Local Government & Other Organisations

Winner: North Yorkshire County Council
Highly Commended: Tunbridge Wells Borough Council

GO Procurement Leadership of the Year Award – Central Government & Healthcare Organisations

Winner: Bank of England
Highly Commended: Office of National Statistics

GO Procurement Project of the Year Award (sub-£20m value)

Winner: Renfrewshire Council
Highly Commended: Lancashire Care NHS Foundation Trust, North West Shared Infrastructure Service and others

GO Procurement Project of the year award (above £20m value) – Local Government and Consortia

Winner: North Lincolnshire Council
Highly Commended: NEPO

GO Procurement Project of the year award (above £20m value) – Other Organisations

Winner: Translink
Highly Commended: Department for International Development
Highly Commended: North of England Commissioning Support Unit & NHS England (Specialised Commissioning, North Region)

GO Emerging Procurement Talent Award

Joint Winner: Leidos Supply Limited
Joint Winner: Cardiff Council

GO Procurement Team of the Year Award – Health and Social Care Organisations

Winner: NHS Scotland National Procurement Equipping Sourcing Team, working with NSS Health Facilities Scotland Equipping Team
Highly Commended: Procurement and Logistics Service (a subsidiary of the Business Services Organisation) partnering with all Health and Social Care Trusts & the Department of Health

GO Procurement Team of the Year Award – Local Government, Central Government and Other Organisations

Winner: Kirklees Council
Highly Commended: Network Homes
Highly Commended: North Yorkshire County Council

GO Excellence Award

Unlike other awards, the GO Excellence award cannot be entered. Instead, the nominations for this award were revealed on the evening of the ceremony, comprising a list of five of the overall strongest entries from across this year’s winning entrants, as decided by the expert judging panel.

The GO Excellence Award this year went to the team from Scan4Safety & the Department for Health and Social Care. The judging panel described this entry as

a major league project for a major league organisation – delivering significant benefits in a host of areas: efficiency, safety and cost management to name just three. A project that has required huge effort to coordinate, with an impressive list of benefits achieved and evidence of sharing of best practice.

Congratulations to the Scan4Safety team!

The GO Awards – next steps

While this year’s National GO Awards presentation may be over, check the GO Awards website over the coming weeks to learn more about the fascinating and inspiring stories behind some of the winning and highly commended entries.

In addition, the GO Awards Scotland 2019/20 will take place on 29th October with the GO Awards Wales following on 7th November. The entry process will begin soon – so why not share your procurement success story?

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