Public sector

Collaborative procurement
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Over the last 30 years we have been fortunate to work with many public sector clients, supporting them in their drive to enhance procurement capability and maximise value for money for the UK taxpayer.

 
CASE STUDY

Value Wales, the efficiency arm of the Welsh Assembly Government, is just one of our public sector clients. In 2003 and again in 2007, we were appointed as the procurement training and skills development partner to Value Wales.

Our role was to help build a strong procurement capability wherever needed to help Value Wales and the, approximately, 130 organisations comprising the Welsh public sector achieve a challenging programme of value-for-money improvements embracing savings, risk reduction and service enhancements.

A pioneering programme of collaborative procurement working across a wide range of professional disciplines and organisations has delivered impressive results. About 1500 people, drawn from both procurement departments and the major spending departments, have participated in our Value Wales programmes. Professionals working in the fields of social care, education, environment, roads and transport, finance, legal and economic development, to name but a few, have worked with us and their procurement colleagues to optimise the overall procurement skill base.

Today, average knowledge levels across the Welsh public procurement community exceed the national average for both private and public sectors, as measured by the PMMS online skills assessment process.

To ensure that all aspects of the improvement programme progress at a compatible rate, our skills development support has embraced:
        • Conventional training
        • Bespoke events and workshops for specialists.
        • Coaching on live projects
        • Organisation procurement capability benchmarking
        • Related process design, documentation and skills competency            frameworks
        • Advice and guidance supplemented by ‘hands on’ support

Throughout the project, about 25 PMMS consultants have been involved to varying degree and virtually all PMMS capability has been utilised.

In 2009 the Scottish Government commissioned PMMS, via our contract with Scotland Excel, to deliver training for public sector purchasers on how to ensure that the public procurement process does not disadvantage third sector organisations.