Procurement Resources

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Procurement Resources

Bringing In A Procurement Consultancy

Imagine this scenario… You’ve made a decision on bringing in a Procurement Consultancy to review your Procurement Resources, inject new ideas, drive change and positively impact your department.

Now for your team’s reaction… How do you guard against a threatened, defensive position and instead foster a collaborative, opportunity-focused response?

This white paper argues that how your team and stakeholders feel about the engagement stems from your selection of the performance objectives, how they are prioritised and how they are communicated. Success, therefore, comes from challenging yourself to think through why the business needs a procurement consultancy and what is it you want them to achieve.

Procurement Leadership

Procurement leadership. What does this mean to you and what are the qualities and attributes of a strong procurement leader? Just how easy is it to demonstrate procurement leadership within public sector procurement projects?

The Procurement Process

Where efforts and ideas have been exhausted and yet more value is required, Barker’s procurement process will bring an injection of pace, ideas, broader market knowledge and practitioners who understand how to change and deliver the cost / value paradigm via procurement transformation.

We help organisations to assess their opportunities to reduce cost using our unique digital procurement technology and deep data insight, helping Procurement teams to move away from cost avoidance to genuine cost transformation, and ensuring the positive impact on the bottom line is recognised by the organisations’ executive management team.

Procurement Transformation

The Barkers procurement transformation team brings the experience and lessons learned from transforming procurement organisations as internal senior leaders, combined with consulting best practices across Category Management, Category Strategy and Target Operating Models.

Our service covers the people, procurement process, technology and governance aspects of Procurement & Supply Chain functions.

The Procurement Value Proposition

How we sell the Procurement Value Proposition within our organisation results in how we are perceived; strategic or tactical, valued business partner or operational necessity.

So, what are the key challenges that face us in selling the Procurement Value Proposition and how should we set about preparing and delivering this in order to be successful?

Procurement in Utilities

Our expertise in regulated industries is unsurpassed and we are proud to say that we particularly excel working with clients within the procurement utilities sector.

We are trusted by some of the biggest service providers within the UK to support them to realise significant cost savings, drive improvements and support their ESG agendas through procurement. Having continuously worked with clients in this sector since 2014, we have secured client savings in excess of £350million.

Procurement in Land, Property, Construction and FM

We have a strong history of supporting clients in land, property, construction and facilities management. Our experienced team transform procurement strategy and process to accelerate progress in a fast-changing sector.

We are ambitious in our approach, innovative in our solutions and determined in our pursuit of procurement excellence.

Benefits of Ethical Procurement

Ethical procurement policies provide clear guidance for sourcing supplies and establishing internal and external relationships essential for daily operations and long-term growth.

Today, more companies realise that providing a high-quality product or service is not enough to gain a market advantage.

What is Ethical Procurement?

Ethical procurement is a company’s code of conduct that drives everything from hiring and training talent to sourcing cost-effective supplies from socially responsible vendors.

Guided by these principles, companies proactively eliminate unethical practices throughout the supply chain. In short, this honour code provides a clear pathway to meet exceedingly rigorous societal expectations.

Delivering Social Value through Procurement

Social value and procurement are now intrinsically linked following the launch of a new social value model twelve months ago.

Initiated on the 1st January 2021, and surpassing the Public Services (Social Value) Act 2012 requirements, the law now requires public sector organisations to appraise suppliers to deliver services that enhance communities.

Digital Procurement Technology

Barker’s unique digital tools enable organisations to access bespoke and in-depth digital procurement technology with automated insight and understand their opportunities to lock in value and maximise their insights.

The Impact of Covid19

The COVID19 pandemic has taught us much about the way in which we work and has turned businesses upside down; rapid responses were needed to streamline processes that were required to be more agile and conducive to remote working. The result has been a swift introduction of innovations and improvements, which, in ordinary times would have taken months if not years to implement. This, coupled with the new ‘virtual normality’, has impacted both sides of Procurement and Bid Management processes, however, has this been for the better?

Outsourcing Procurement

IMAGINE THIS SCENARIO… You’ve made the decision in outsourcing procurement and bring in a procurement consultancy to review your procurement function, inject new ideas, drive change and positively impact your department.

Now for your team’s reaction…

Procurement Consultancy

Procurement Consultancy – For all the machinations, complexities, and strategies of business, regardless of the model or sector, all have the same goal in mind – boosting profitability. Of course, there are other aims as well; demonstrating a strong corporate social responsibility, leading innovation and creating employment.

At Barkers we support clients to achieve financial success through a procurement focus that takes a holistic approach to the business. We offer the following services:

Selling the Procurement Value Proposition

How we sell the Procurement Value Proposition within our organisation results in how we are perceived; strategic or tactical, valued business partner or operational necessity. So, what are the key challenges that face us in selling the Procurement Value Proposition and how should we set about preparing and delivering this in order to be successful?

Procurement Public Sector

We are proud to have worked with several clients in the procurement public sector, including blue light organisations, health care settings and housing, supporting them with transformation projects which have secured significant cost savings and delivered legacy improvements that impact both the organisation and the wider community.

Women in Procurement

I have been very fortunate to work in environments that celebrate this and while I have encountered gender stereotyping, I have never felt overlooked or disadvantaged due to my gender. However, for some women, this isn’t always the case.

When I joined Heads Resourcing Group in 2018, I was told I had a voice and platform to discuss these topics openly and encourage others to do so too.

Have Times Changed in Procurement?

To celebrate International Women’s Day we’ve interviewed three female senior procurement professionals to uncover what their experiences have been as a woman working within procurement, from their first roles within procurement to their current roles now. We’ll explore whether there are any significant differences and also learn what advice our interviewees would give to their younger selves.

Transforming Public Procurement in the UK

With the Transition Period ending on 31 December 2020, the UK has taken a positive action to review potential changes in procurement, which is being described as an historic opportunity to overhaul our outdated public procurement regime within the Government’s recent Green Paper.

Procurement Challenge, Opportunity and Transformation

2020 has been tough. And if your profession happens to be Procurement transformation, it’s likely – in the workplace, at least – it’s been even more so. A business fighting for survival will always look at its overhead, often meaning the threat of redundancy. In parallel, it will also look at its expenditure meaning it is frequently the case that the Procurement function will be asked to commit incremental cost reduction to that which has already been budgeted, without the luxury of knowing its method of delivery. A smart Procurement Director may even pro-actively offer up a greater level of cost reduction before being challenged, as a means to protect their people. What emerges provides Procurement functions with an unlikely platform to excel, distinguish themselves, and to add value to the bottom line.

Digital Procurement System

For years companies have reported their belief that having a digital strategy is important, but very few of them actually had one, and those that did, hadn’t made much progress in implementing it. But within procurement departments, industry insight tells us this is starting to change…

Procurement Strategies and the Power of Collaboration

The power of collaboration has examples throughout history from music to politics, to science and engineering, to business, and plenty more in between. There’s no mystery as to why collaboration is so powerful. By pooling experience, skills, philosophies, and backgrounds stakeholders gain access to an inventory of human resource which otherwise remains locked.

Argent Energy

Argent Energy needed to review their processes and systems for the ordering and payment of goods, services or works. We enabled Argent to identify process improvements and savings opportunities and implemented a cost-saving procurement strategy which could be used to deliver commercial activities across a wide range of core areas. In addition to benefits realisation, following our review, Argent Energy now also have more time to focus upon SRM and strategic procurement activity.

Bolton at Home

Bolton at Home’s IT contract was due to expire in 2020. In advance of the expiry of this agreement, they needed Barkers’ IT strategic and delivery consultancy services to develop a procurement strategy and plan to replace their current agreement. Working to a defined timeframe, we enabled Bolton at Home to meet their strategic objectives.

SGN

SGN needed support to transition their internal IT services to a cloud first system. Using our procurement transformation approach, we worked with them to successfully develop an IT Procurement and Commercial (P&C) function that fully integrated with their existing governance and operational frameworks. SGN were able to realise their cloud first IT and business strategy whilst also delivering savings of £1million.

DEI in Procurement

In this white paper, Nicola Greenwood argues that procurement has a unique opportunity to deliver strategic value, innovation and social value whilst driving increased revenue through diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI).

Develop Your Professional Procurement Expertise

At Barkers, we are proud to name industry-recognised experts amongst our team, and we build sustainable relationships with our Associates, even when they are working on their own projects. That said, we can always find the right opportunity for practitioners in the earlier stages of their careers, who want to develop themselves working with our talented team.

NHS Social Value Procurement Changes

As of today, 1 April 2022, NHS England will be extending the reach of its Procurement Policy Note (PPN) 06/20 to the commissioning and purchase of goods and services by NHS organisations, as well as to organisations acting on behalf of such commissioners and purchasers (in scope organisations).

Innovation in Services Procurement for the Utilities Sector

Barkers are pleased to announce a strategic procurement partnership with Constellia to support the implementation and successful delivery of Constellia’s established Neutral Vendor MSP solution for professional services into the Utility sector.

Public Procurement Threshold Changes

A reminder that from 1 January 2022 new procurement thresholds have been introduced by the UK government via the Public Procurement (Agreement on Government Procurement) (Thresholds) (Amendment) Regulations 2021.

The new regulations apply to all procurements that start on or after 1 January 2022 conducted under the Public Contracts Regulations 2015, the Concession Contracts Regulations 2016, the Utilities Contracts Regulations 2016 and the Defence and Security Public Contracts Regulations 2011.

Procurement Team of the Year at 2021 Go Awards

On the evening of 15 September 2021, Barkers’ client Seven Force Strategic Collaboration were announced winners of the Procurement Team of the Year category within the 2021 Go Awards at a glittering ceremony.

FCIPS Recognition for Nathan Davies

Senior Managing Consultant, Nathan Davies has been awarded a Fellowship by the Chartered Institute of Purchasing and Supply.

FCIPS is the highest grade of membership and recognises an outstanding level of achievement, knowledge and experience in procurement and supply.