Contents Introduction Page 3 Section 1 Strategic Aim Page 4 Section 2 Professionally Resourced Page 5 Section 3 Economic, Social and Environmental Impact Page 6 Section 4 Community Benefits Page 7 Section 5 Open, accessible competition Page 8 Section 6 Simplified Standard Processes Page 9 Section 7 Collaboration Page 10 Section 8 Supplier Engagement and Innovation Page 11 Section 9 Measurement and Impact Page 12 2
Introduction Procurement is the process of acquiring goods, works and services, covering both acquisitions from third parties and from in-house providers. The process spans the whole cycle from identification of needs, through to the end of a services contract or the end of the useful life of an asset. It involves options appraisal and the critical make or buy decision which may result in the provision of services in-house in appropriate circumstances. Our Vision for Procurement Wrexham County Borough Council will demonstrate continuous improvement and the achievement of Value for Money through the effective procurement of its goods, services and works. To achieve this vision we will procure goods, services, works and utilities in a way that achieves value for money on a whole life basis in terms of generating benefits not only to the organisation, but also to society and the economy, whilst minimising damage to the environment. This procurement strategy is relevant to a period of financial restraint in Local Government. The focus is on efficiency savings through procurement and how we will achieve the savings required over the coming period. Equally important is the need to procure and deliver quality and value for money public services. In this respect we will use our spending power and influence to ensure we procure suppliers and contractors who deliver outcomes and specific contract requirements in a manner that best benefits the Council. Context of the strategy Doing things the same way as they always have been done is not an option. We will need to transform ourselves, to become a different organisation. We will have to work differently, to deliver better and more focused services for less money. Procurement is identified as an important tool to achieve efficiency gains. A Category Management approach to Procurement has a key focus to facilitate these required reductions in spend. As all departments depend on external organisations to provide goods, works and services, it is important that we maintain a clear strategy for selecting, receiving and managing these resources. This strategy will co-ordinate our Procurement plans to deliver improvement in procurement practice and will support the delivery of Welsh Procurement Policy in to our ways of working. 3
Section 1 Strategic Aim Procurement will be recognised and managed as a strategic function that organises and understands expenditure, is involved in influencing, early planning and service design issues and is involved in decision making that supports delivery of overarching objectives. To ensure appropriate Strategic influence to procurement activity the Council will: - Continue to progress a Category Management approach to its Procurement activities. (1.1) - Undertake regular Welsh Procurement Fitness Checks, acting to implement appropriate recommendations received and report to Welsh Government on developed action plan progress. (1.2) - Adopt a local SME Friendly Procurement approach, to help ensure that our procurement activities help to make Wrexham and its surrounding areas a good place for doing business. Within the procurement legal framework we will aim to develop a strong local supply base, and contribute to a healthy economic infrastructure. (1.3) - Embed ways of working that are fair, open and transparent and that are in accordance with best practice principles and procurement legislative requirements. (1.4) 4
Section 2 Professionally Resourced Our Procurement expenditure will be subject to an appropriate level of professional involvement and influence. Category Management resource will support key departmental buying and contracting activity and manage their procurement requirements and demands in a strategic and co coordinated way. We will drive forward a structure that will manage categories of spend, develop strategic forward procurement plans and support the delivery of improved business results and procurement savings. To ensure the appropriate level of professional involvement and influence the Council will: - ensure adequate skills and resources are in place to carry out effective procurement and contract management. (2.1) - Provide training to ensure Central Procurement Staff are professionally qualified (MCIPS) (2.1) - Develop a procurement training plan to address resource and skills gaps and share this with Welsh Government to support their future skills development strategy. (2.1) 5
Section 3 Economic, Social and Environmental Impact Value for Money will be considered as the optimum combination of whole-of-life costs in terms of not only generating efficiency savings and good quality outcomes for the Council, but also benefit to society and the economy, whilst minimising damage to the environment. To ensure value for money in this manner the Council will: - Continue to support and adopt the principles of the Welsh Governments Opening Doors Charter and will fully adopt all details of that Charter to help ensure that local small to medium sized enterprises are given full opportunity to compete for and provide goods, services and works to the Authority (3.1) - Within the constraints of relevant procurement legislation, encourage, support and develop local markets to maximise the local benefit of procurement opportunities. (3.2) - Where relevant undertake Sustainable Risk Assessments to procurement exercises taking in to account the long-term impact of decisions on the combination of whole life benefits. (3.3) 6
Section 4 Community Benefits Incorporating Community Benefits in to relevant procurement opportunities can assist in the development of a vibrant Welsh Economy capable of delivering strong and sustainable growth. Sustainable Development within procurement activities will assist in our aim of ensuring that our actions contribute in the round to improve the environment, build stronger communities and encourage the development of the economy. The Council will look to generate this added value through its procurement activities by ensuring due consideration and adoption of the Welsh Government s Community Benefits policy. To deliver Community Benefits the Council will: - Apply Community Benefits to all public sector procurements where such benefits can be realised. (4.1) - Adopt as relevant a non core approach incorporating social requirements as contract conditions and working in partnership with suppliers to deliver positive outcomes against those conditions. (4.1) - Adopt as relevant a core approach incorporating social considerations in to the award criteria of procurement exercises ensuring that they are relevant to the subject matter of the contract. (4.1) - Ensure procurement activity remains non discriminatory (directly or none directly) and remains transparent and in compliance with all other legal requirements. (4.1) - Apply the Community Benefits Measurement Tool to all such contracts over 2m to capture and report outcomes to the Welsh Government. (4.2) 7
Section 5 Open, accessible competition It is fundamental that there is openness and transparency in all procurement practices and the processes that we adopt must reflect this fact whilst remaining responsive to the local government agenda and the overriding principles of the European Procurement Directives. The Council requires that all procurement procedures should be operated in a professional manner to ensure the highest standards of probity, openness and accountability We will adopt proportionate approaches to procurement in line with our Financial Regulations, Procurement Code of Practice and the Welsh Governments Procurement Route Planner to ensure that contract opportunities are open to all and smaller, local suppliers are not precluded from winning contracts individually, as consortia, or through roles within the supply chain. To ensure open, accessible competition the Council will: - Use www.sell2wales.co.uk to advertise all goods and services contracts over 25k (5.1) - Use www.sell2wales.co.uk to advertise all works contracts over 75k (5.1) - Proactively publish known forward contract programmes (5.2) - Ensure that appropriate lotting strategies are used within our procurement exercises. (5.3) - Apply the SQuID approach as standard to our Pre Qualification / supplier selection methodology. (5.4) - Encourage main contractors to use the Tier1 facility to advertise supply chain opportunities on www.sell2wales.co.uk. (5.1) - Respond efficiently to supplier requests providing information on procurement timelines and contractual arrangements in place and detail of any known related opportunities. (5.5) 8
Section 6 Simplified Standard Processes Procurement processes will be open and transparent. They will be based on standard approaches and use of common systems that appropriately minimise complexity, cost, timescales and requirements for suppliers. The Council will standardise and minimise the cost of procurement transactional activities by further embedding the E procurement tools it has adopted. The use of E trading software will e enable the procure to pay cycle and the use of E sourcing software will e enable the request for quotation and tendering tasks undertaken. Our Financial Regulations and Procedures and the assurance that professional central procurement resource will direct, carry out or advise on procurement issues will ensure that best practice methodologies are employed against the majority of our spend profile. To ensure that we adopt procurement processes that provide efficient and effective ways of working for ourselves and the suppliers that we deal with the Council will: - Embed common procurement approaches in line with our Financial Regulations, Procurement Code of Practice and best practice principles ensuring that they provide appropriate internal rules of control and are regularly reviewed to take account of any future changes to procurement practice and legislation. (6.1) - Further develop Council wide use e trading tools by maximising the volume of electronic orders issued and invoices received via the Proactis Purchase to Pay system. (6.2) - Further develop Council wide use e sourcing tools by maximising the number of request for quote and tender exercises conducted via the Sell2Wales portal and the Bravo Solutions e sourcing portal. (6.2) - Encourage supplier feedback on ease of process and channel relevant findings through to our ways of working and as required for due consideration by the Welsh Government. (6.3) - Embed the principles of the Construction Commitment Charter for Wales in to our Construction procurement activities. (6.4) 9
Section 7 Collaboration Wrexham County Borough Council seeks to gain from sharing best practice and is committed to maximising opportunities for delivering better value for money through collaborative procurement arrangements. It recognises the value that appropriate collaboration with our public sector partners has in maximising economies of scale and buying power. It is committed to consideration and usage of the Frameworks and Contracts produced by the National Procurement Service and the Welsh Purchasing Consortium. To work actively to exploit the benefits from continued and new collaborative opportunities we will: - Examine areas of common expenditure considering if these could be addressed collectively using standardised approaches and specifications to reduce duplication, to get the best response from the market, to embed best practice; and to share resources and expertise. (7.1) - As a Member of the Welsh Purchasing Consortium actively engage in the production and use of their collaborative contracts and frameworks. (7.2) - As a Member of the National Procurement Service actively engage in the production and use of their collaborative contracts and frameworks. (7.2) - Give appropriate consideration to the increasing range of collaborative contract opportunities available to Public Sector Organisations via the Government Procurement Service and various other Buying Consortia. (7.2) - Work in partnership with other Authorities on relevant procurement issues to gain knowledge, share information and work to build any results obtained into our future procurement activity. (7.2) 10
Section 8 Supplier Engagement and Innovation The Council recognises the need to encourage a mixed range of suppliers that help to deliver best value for money via a varied and competitive market place. The Council is therefore committed to developing our arrangements with contractors and suppliers in a way that is appropriate to best practice procurement principles and where it provides the best outcomes. Dialogue with suppliers improves the benefits that are obtained from our arrangements, it informs the Council with information that aids delivery of optimum value for money and it assists our suppliers in equipping themselves to deliver present and future quality products, services and works for the Authority. Our ways of procuring requirements will give due consideration to the feedback received from the supply chain. To deliver an approach that is informed and influenced by the procurement relationships we have with our suppliers we will: - Ensure regular two way dialogue with our key suppliers. (8.1) - Conduct contract performance management reviews on a regular basis against key high value contracts. (8.1) - Encourage communication with Suppliers to be a two-way dialogue whereby both parties can improve the way they operate and take action against any lessons learned. (8.1) - Publish a single electronic point of contact for supply chain dialogue / feedback / queries. (8.2) - Ensure our de briefing provides adequate and compliant feedback to those Companies who have submitted responses against our contract opportunities. (8.2) - Consider the use of outcome based specifications where appropriate to encourage business innovation and encourage evaluation of alternative delivery models. (8.3) 11
Section 9 Measurement and Impact In accordance with good management practice, procurement performance and outcomes will be monitored to support continuous improvement. The Council will remain mindful and informed of the wider Public Sector s developments of Procurement activity and will share examples of good practice. The Welsh Government s Procurement Fitness Check programme provides a basis for considered improvements. Creation of Procurement Fitness Check action plans and our work against them will move procurement activity forward and increase our ability to deliver best in class procurement outcomes. The Council recognises the benefits that can be gained through dialogue with similar Organisations and by benchmarking ways of working. We will review and share with others our methods of working, ways of procuring and will evaluate the value for money that similar contracts are delivering. To provide a framework of procurement performance measures that are proportionate and help to drive improvement we will: - Work in partnership with other Public Sector Organisations to gain knowledge, share information and work to build any results obtained into our procurement activity. (9.1) - Participate in Value Wales procurement initiatives and give full consideration to the strategic approach that is promoted. (9.1) - Provide a framework of procurement performance measures that are proportionate and help to drive improvement. (9.2) - Provide Welsh Government with regular reports of outcomes achieved through procurement. (9.3) 12