Procurement team on transformational path to become number one in Scotland

As part of a wider move to improve the performance of the council, the Commercial and Procurement Service (formerly CPU) is embarking on major changes to its structure and the way they do business in order to help the organisation achieve savings, generate income and with a view to becoming the number one procurement team of any council across Scotland.

Head of Procurement, Craig Innes explains: “We’re currently third position in national rankings but we want to make it to the top. We’re aiming to improve supplier and contract management, work more closely with services, evidence processes more effectively, extend our scope to have greater influence over all areas of the council and involve all business leaders in making changes to the way we buy goods and services.”

Did you know, of the council’s entire budget almost half is spent on buying in goods and services from suppliers? The changes being made by the Commercial and Procurement Service will enable us to fully exploit the council’s position within the local economy and save on contract costs as well as getting better at generating income.

They are planning to look at current policies which affect procurement, improve processes, bring forward exciting developments using new tools and track all of the benefits of their work more effectively. A first step in changing the way things work is to second a member of staff from each of the four service directorates to work with the Commercial and Procurement Service, alongside national experts from Scotland Excel.

Craig adds: “Procurement has a direct impact on the quality of service provided to residents and communities. We realise that one size does not fit all services which is why we’ll be working in depth with each to make changes which will meet the varying needs of teams.

“I hope the changes will also help staff to gain a greater understanding of commercial practice and whole life costs. Simply put, if we buy something that looks like a good deal there can often be a cost associated with this that hits us further down the road. The quality, associated maintenance and/or support of goods and services can often make that cheaper option more expensive.

“As a council we also have to consider the cost of someone’s time to look around. Doing this centrally means the quality of products being purchased is looked at in detail, ethical considerations are made and benefits are realised – in terms of incentives offered by suppliers if they are our preferred supplier.”

By offering your support to the role out of this project you will be helping the organisation to achieve savings whilst also meeting our objectives to procure ethically, to procure as a team and not as individuals and to achieve best value for this council and, by default, its customers.

For more information about the forthcoming changes to procurement and to register your interest in taking up a seconded post to support these changes, please email craig.innes@aberdeenshire.gov.uk