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 Council, NHS 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/

New monthly BiP Inform report series covers major market trends

BiP Solutions are proud to launch the first in our new series of BiP Inform monthly market monitor spend analysis reports. The first report, a Healthcare market trends update, covers the NHS and the wider healthcare sector.

Each month, these reports will focus on a specific area of public sector spend, analysing which organisations are spending the most, and with which suppliers. Drawing on data from BiP Solutions’ Tracker Market Intelligence tool, home to Europe’s largest database of public sector tenders and awards, our reports will detail the organisations with the highest spend during the month in question; the suppliers who have won the most and the largest contracts; the regions of the country that award the most contracts and their total combined value; and more.

Key highlights from our Healthcare report, covering data from July 2019, include:

  • Total NHS spend during this period was just over £1.6 billion
  • 663 notices were published, with a further 535 contracts awarded
  • One NHS organisation, Midlands and Lancashire Commissioning Support Unit, is responsible for just shy of 40% of all contracts awarded during this period
  • The top buying organisation during this period had a combined awards value of £500 million

BiP Solutions offer a number of other ways to stay informed about the latest updates and trends in the healthcare market, including Health Online, our dynamic online healthcare community. Offering a personalised experience allowing each user to select their areas of interest, Health Online allows users to stay up-to-date with the latest healthcare news as well as network with other healthcare professionals. In addition, BiP Solutions’ P4H (Procurement for Health) series of events bring together leaders from throughout healthcare procurement for keynote talks, skills training workshops and more, as well as supplier networking opportunities.

To find out more about the latest healthcare market trends, download your complimentary copy of the full report here. Further reports covering areas such as local and central government will be published in forthcoming months, allowing you to keep up-to-date with the latest figures.

New healthcare market report: Beyond Collaboration and Transformation

Over £1 billion is spent every three days in the NHS. However, it can be a daunting and complex system to navigate when it comes to procurement. While there is a huge opportunity for procurement professionals, it’s important for both buying and supplying organisations to ensure they’re working together in the most efficient and effective way possible.

To help both NHS professionals and suppliers understand the healthcare procurement market in greater depth, BiP Solutions is pleased to announce Health Online’s latest market report, Current Trends in Healthcare Procurement: Beyond Collaboration and Transformation. Following the recent P4H England 2019 event, which took place at Birmingham’s NEC on 4 July, the report includes expert analysis and comment from procurement leaders who spoke at P4H on some of the major questions for contemporary healthcare procurement:

Collaboration across the NHS: what impact does the tension between centralised directives and devolved decision-making have on healthcare procurement, and how can trusts work together to cut costs while delivering on clinical requirements?

The buyer-supplier relationship: how do trusts ensure their frameworks are fit for purpose and attract the best supplier talent, while also ensuring that suppliers deliver to the terms of the contract?

Transformation: what is the relationship between large-scale, centralised transformation projects such as the new operating model for NHS Supply Chain, and continuous improvement at trust level?

Health Online is a new online community  bringing together NHS professionals and commercial partners from the world of healthcare. Offering the latest news covering all aspects of healthcare, features from thought leaders and media display opportunities, Health Online is a ‘one-stop shop’ for everything happening in healthcare today. Health Online Sales Director Sam Gilding said:

“Our ambition is for Health Online to become the default social community for professionals to network, share ideas and build long lasting relationships in this key marketplace.”

This exclusive report also includes

  • the results of Health Online’s recent ‘Impact of Procurement in Healthcare’ research survey, revealing what healthcare procurement leaders think about the challenges and opportunities currently facing them
  • analysis of the highest-spending NHS organisations in the NHS, and their key areas of spend
  • a full review of the P4H England event
  • and more.

To download a full copy of the report, or to register with Health Online and keep up with all the latest NHS and healthcare news, click here.

Introducing Health Online – a new, dynamic healthcare community

BiP Solutions is proud to announce the launch of a new online community – Health Online.

Health Online is the latest way in which BiP assists both buyers and suppliers in their procurement journey – focusing specifically on the UK healthcare industry. Sitting within BiP’s Media & Marketing Solutions division, Health Online is designed for early engagement within both the public and private sector.

Providing the latest news on all areas of interest to healthcare buyers and suppliers, from accommodation and administration to vehicles and water, Health Online offers a unique, bespoke experience to each user. The site allows you to tailor your interests so that you see more of what you want to see – and less of what is less interesting to you. Whether it’s the latest news on medical equipment, pharmaceuticals or NHS recruitment, Health Online can keep you updated on it all, highlighting the areas that you care about.

Health Online also allows healthcare professionals and respected commercial suppliers to share news, trade ideas and build connections. It helps commercial suppliers to gain exposure within an ever-evolving marketplace that spends over £1bn every 3 days, by providing a wide portfolio of marketing and advertising tools – enabling suppliers to increase brand awareness and generate opportunities within the sector. For healthcare professionals, Health Online provides a platform for exposure among your peers, by offering the possibility of uploading your own features and examples of best practice, as well as enabling you to contribute to discussions created by others.

Sam Gilding, Director of Media & Marketing Solutions, said:

We’re really excited to bring to market this fresh and innovative approach to buyer/supplier engagement in the healthcare industry. Our ambition is for Health Online to become the default social community for professionals to network, share ideas and build long lasting relationships in this key marketplace. BiP Solutions are committed to supporting best-in-class procurement processes across UK healthcare, and our development of Health Online helps to facilitate this.

To learn more about Health Online and register your profile, visit www.healthonline-uk.com.

BiP Solutions offers a suite of digital solutions to bring together buyers and suppliers, from sector-specific data communities to the most comprehensive source of tender notifications in the UK. To learn more, visit www.bipsolutions.com.

P4H Scotland: Event Overview

P4H Edinburgh - Jim Miller

The Scottish healthcare procurement community was brought together at yesterday’s event at Edinburgh International Conference Centre.

The main focus of the inaugural P4H Scotland event was to enhance the capabilities of procurement personnel and showcase innovative Scottish suppliers.

 

What was on?

Throughout the day there were educational and networking opportunities designed to enhance knowledge and facilitate the development of new business opportunities. A focal point of the day was the Keynote Arena where delegates heard speeches from:

  • Duncan Eaton – Executive Advisor to the All-Party Parliamentary Health Group
  • Jim Miller – Procurement Commissioning & Facilities Director, NHS Scotland
  • Mark Cook – Government Affairs Director, Medtronic Inc
  • Louise McGregor – Head of Circular Economy, Zero Waste Scotland
  • Mike Winter – Medical Director, NHS Scotland

 

P4H Scotland 2018

The opening event has been received well by everyone that attended, with excellent feedback from delegates and presenters and exhibitors.

Alison Brown, Transformation Director, Procurement Transformation Programme, NHS National Services Scotland, spoke to BiP Solutions on the day and said that

“There has been a great buzz at this event, a really good atmosphere… Strong relationships are built at events like this and that’s what today has been a lot about for me!”

Focus on Healthcare Procurement

The event is dedicated to the success of healthcare procurement across Scotland. The NHS in Scotland spends over £2.3 billion each year on a diverse range of goods and services, making it a desirable marketplace for any supplier looking to develop new business opportunities.

Iain Cruwys, Logistics Director for NHS NSS Procurement, Commissioning & Facilities, believes that there are many benefits of events like P4H Scotland as they not only bring suppliers and buyers together but they can also be interactive and educational:

“I think, above all, an event like P4H Scotland has saved us a tremendous amount of time! We have everyone in the one place, making it a great place to have conversations.

“ I have been able to bring a large number of my team here today and they will have benefited from it hugely!”

P4H Edinburgh

Event Sponsors

Among the P4H Scotland sponsors attending on the day were Veritas Technologies and Global Healthcare Exchange (GHX); both were impressed by the turnout of buyers and suppliers.

Veritas Technologies deliver solutions designed to serve the world’s most complex, heterogeneous environments. Dave Burke, Regional Sales Manager at Veritas said that:

“P4H Scotland was really important to us. The NHS is a key part of the community and it is important for Veritas to contribute ideas to the public sector at events like this, which is why we wanted to be a part of it.”

On behalf of Global Healthcare Exchange (GHX), Key Account Manager James Minards spoke to our team about what attracted their business to the P4H events:

“We supply a lot of goods and services into the Scottish healthcare market and it is important that we have a presence at P4H Scotland so we can engage with our clients!”

The P4H England event will take place on 12 July 2018. Tickets are FREE for public sector delegates and cost just £95 for the private sector.

If you would like to invest in the development of new and existing business opportunities by participating in this hugely important event, you can call 0845 270 7066 to find out more.

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.

Select a page to copy this section to:

Select where in the level you want it inserted: