The Objectives of Partners in Procurement
Terms of Reference
Vision: To support the delivery of procurement excellence through collaboration
Mission: To embark on a “joined up” approach to public sector procurement within the sub-region that facilitates:
- collaborative procurement activity
- benchmarking
- sharing of procurement related expertise, knowledge and best practice
- compatible approaches to e-procurement
- support of local market development
and that represents the views of the sub-region to the Regional Improvement and Efficiency Partnership.
In line with the Group's vision to achieve a more 'joined up' approach to procurement a number of initiatives to streamline processes have been established.
Objectives in detail
(a) identification of areas of synergy and collaborative opportunity for the purpose of maximising members’ purchasing influence achieving ‘process’ and ‘resource’ savings for Authorities by dividing the responsibility for pre-contract procurement activity for ‘common commodities’ achieving ‘process’ and ‘resource’ savings for suppliers by eliminating the requirement to compete individually for each Authority’s ‘common’ business
(b) to seek convergence in e-procurement solutions which will support the members’ efforts in :attracting suppliers to sign-up to e-procurement achieving savings in commodity and transaction cost accessing ‘spend’ data for usage and trend analysis contract monitoring and management
(c) supporting the sub-regional economic and social infrastructure by encouraging local supply solutions (where possible, and in strict compliance with legislation and best value principles) by: ensuring visibility of contract opportunities through a single web portal working with stakeholder organisations (such as the Regional Development Agency) to communicate a better understanding of the way in which the Authorities do business and increase the commercial viability of SME’s in contracting to public sector organisations
(d) identifying and reviewing alternative procurement opportunities which may complement the work of the Partnership and/or deliver additional benefits to the member organisations, such as:- The South West Procurement Federation other eligible framework agreements, eg. Emergency Services or University contracts
(e) raising the profile of procurement both internally and in the wider community by: marketing collaborative procurement initiatives and successes giving wide and transparent access to partnership activities (eg. Chief Officers, cabinet members, the community, the private sector) encouraging a broad range of stakeholder and/or external expertise to take part in activities or sub-group consultation (as appropriate)
Operations
(i) Partners in Procurement will formally meet on a quarterly basis
(ii) In the interests of expediency and progress, the Partnership may appoint a sub-group or working party to undertake research into particular initiatives and report back to the main meeting. Any such sub-group will be formed from the membership (or their appointed representative within their Authority) and may also include other stakeholders or internal/external expertise if appropriate
(iii) For each major activity the Partnership will consider how best to engage a broader range of stakeholder to ensure inclusiveness of requirements and range of expertise and knowledge
(iv) The Partnership will work openly and transparently. Agendas, minutes of meetings and working papers will be retained electronically and may be viewed by any member of any of the organisations forming the Partnership.
(v) Progress towards achieving objectives will be reviewed annually and will inform the strategic plan for the following year
Membership
The membership will be drawn from procurement representatives of the councils Bath and North East Somerset, Bristol City, North Somerset and South Gloucestershire, plus emergency services organisations and any other sub-regional public sector bodies wishing to be involved.
Each member organisation will be given the opportunity to host meetings on a rotational basis. The Chair shall be the representative of the hosting organisation.