Archived decisions

Hampshire County Council

Buildings, Land and Contracts Panel Item 13

27 January 2004

Executive Member - Policy and Resources

23 January 2004

Corporate Procurement Initiatives and Issues

Report by the Director of Property, Business and Regulatory Services

How the conclusion in this report fits with the Corporate Strategy

This report will impact on most of the Corporate Aims, in particular:

Aim 2 - stewardship of the environment

Aim 5 - improving services - by introducing strategic procurement within the County Council

Aim 6 - developing councillors and staff - by developing procurement skills and competencies for staff.

1

Summary

1.1

Over recent years, several major reports have been published on procurement in both central and local government. The most recent of these is the National Procurement Strategy for Local Government (October 2003) and the environment is now one in which the strategic management of procurement activity is seen as a key task for local authorities. It is widely recognised that the involvement of senior elected Members is directly related to an authority's commitment to and performance against the emerging procurement improvement agenda.

1.2

Procurement expenditure in the County Council involves some £360 million annually and, following the recent completion of its own corporate procurement strategy, the Council has already developed an action plan to deliver improvements against 10 key objectives. This action plan is monitored by the Corporate Procurement Network, which is responsible with the Director of Property, Business and Regulatory to the Corporate Management Team and to the Executive Member for Policy and Resources (as Member Champion for the strategy).

1.3

Co-ordination within the Council has already improved, but implementation of the action plan is affected by other competing developments within the Council. Further progress will be determined by the level of resource committed to this agenda and the relative priority allocated to these actions by Members and the Corporate Management Team.

1.4

County Supplies (PBRS) currently manages and arranges contracts for commonly used goods and services. It has also taken on a lead role in relation to the Council's electronic procurement catalogue, is co-ordinating activity on the Council's procurement action plan and is working with departments to extend the scope of corporate procurement arrangements. However, the great majority of the Council's expenditure on goods and services is managed directly within departments, particularly in the areas of Social Services, Environment and Property Services.

1.5

The Buildings, Land and Procurement Panel is to become the Procurement Board for the County Council and the purpose of this report is to present Members with a review of the current position and direction on procurement issues.

2.

Background Information

2.1

Members will be aware that procurement has become an important item on the national agenda over recent years. One of the first major developments was the creation of the Office of Government Commerce (OGC) in April 2000 to improve procurement performance, particularly in central government. The Local Government Procurement Taskforce (Chaired by Sir Ian Byatt) delivered an important report with 39 recommendations in 2001 and this has been followed by a joint response from Government (ODPM) and the LGA in 2002 and by the publication in October 2003 of the National Procurement Strategy for Local Government (NPSLG).

2.2

The NPSLG sets out a comprehensive agenda for the improvement of local authority procurement and the actions recommended are likely to become the standard against which performance will be measured. A full copy of the document can be found by following the links on Hantsweb from `Corporate Information' to `Corporate Procurement' and then `Reference Documents'. A copy of the vision for procurement from the NPSLG and an analysis of the key challenges are reproduced in Appendices 1 and 2 for information.

2.3

A wide range of organisations have contributed to and are supporting this work. This includes the Improvement and Development Agency (IDeA), which has produced several procurement guides and a review of the required staff competencies. A common theme within the material published is that one of the critical factors for the success of the improvement agenda for procurement is the engagement of senior Members and Chief Officers.

2.4

In procurement, there is an obvious requirement to focus on value-for-money and there has always been a strong framework of control both in terms of local standing orders and through legislation (such as, the European Union procurement directives). However, procurement is increasingly seen as a vehicle to drive service delivery and there is a corresponding expectation that it will contribute towards achieving the corporate objectives (e.g. sustainability and local economy issues), risk management (e.g. health and safety and insurance requirements) and workforce issues (e.g. equalities guidance from the Commission for Racial Equality and the ODPM guidance on the elimination of the `two tier' workforce).

2.5

The total value of payments recorded in the County Council's financial management systems is in excess of £400 million annually. However, any figure that is quoted has to be considered in conjunction with the list of items actually included in it (e.g. payments to foster carers and grants). Expenditure by departments of the County Council on goods and services (excluding all vendors with payments of less than £5,000 each year) is in the region of £360 million.

2.6

The SAP system that is currently being implemented across the County Council will handle procurement in three ways:

· specialist departmental activity will be processed through customised

modules or systems linked to the core SAP system (e.g. care and
construction)

· general requirements will be satisfied through an electronic catalogue

(Enterprise Buyer Professional (EBP)) or a linked `Special Request'

transaction that will be processed by County Supplies

· schools will have access to both EBP and the core system, which will

support greater local discretion about sources of supply

2.7

One of the key principles for the rollout of SAP is that the best purchasing arrangements will be identified and made available to all users via the EBP catalogue. The realisation of benefits will, therefore, depend on the active promotion and use of corporate arrangements, which demands a high level of co-operation between departments and County Supplies. The Panel's support and promotion of this view is important. One of the key targets for such treatment is the Council's expenditure on agency staff, which is the subject of a separate report on the Panel's agenda.

2.8

Since April of 2003, nearly £10.1 million of purchasing has been made through the EBP catalogue of which £6.2 million (61%) was against corporate contracts.

There are a number of other opportunities for the aggregation of current purchasing into corporate contracts which could be expected to generate savings:

· periodicals and journals (£200,000 annually)

· venues and accommodation (£900,000)

· graphic design, reprographic and printing services (£2.8 million)

Work is also underway to increase the take-up and scope of waste collection and disposal contracts. Not only should this provide a price advantage for individual establishments, it will also extend the Council's influence with contractors on issues such as recycling.

2.9

The County Council's current improvement plan includes a commitment to develop its corporate procurement arrangements by implementing the corporate procurement strategy as part of its overall plans to improve performance.

3.

Response of the County Council

3.1

The Corporate Management Team (CMT) has nominated the Director of Property, Business and Regulatory Services as its sponsor for the procurement agenda and agreed that a Corporate Procurement Network (CPN) consisting of representatives from all departments should be established. The CPN was intended to provide a forum for the preparation of the County Council's first corporate procurement strategy and for the delivery of an agreed action plan based on the strategy.

3.2

As part of this process the Executive Member for Policy and Resources agreed to become the member sponsor of the corporate procurement strategy and to use the Buildings, Land and Procurement Panel (BLPP) as a vehicle to consider procurement activity and make recommendations on its development. The general intention is for the BLPP to act as a procurement board or steering group for the Council as a whole.

Corporate Procurement Network

3.3

Eight meetings of this group have now taken place and the CPN completed its most urgent task in October with the publication of the procurement strategy (circulated separately to Members of the BLPP). The strategy document is supported by a detailed action plan, which the CPN monitors on behalf of the Director of Property, Business and Regulatory Services. The action plan is already extensive (over 100 individual actions) and is likely to grow further as the implementation proceeds. The action plan is aligned with the ten objectives highlighted in the strategy document and current activity is summarised in the following paragraphs.

Data Collection and Analysis

3.4

A data collection exercise took several months longer than anticipated, but is now complete. The information collected is better than anything previously available and has been used to produce an analysis of the Council's procurement (see Appendix 3). The analysis of expenditure by material groups has not been uniformly consistent, but it will help to identify areas suitable for new corporate arrangements. The availability of good quality procurement information at the end of the SAP rollout will be a major advance for the County Council.

3.5

The procurement portfolio or matrix has become a standard method by which key areas of procurement performance can be highlighted. Members will be aware that strategic procurement within the Council includes social care, highways, transport, waste disposal and property. The model highlights the fact that performance and improvement in these areas is of critical importance to the County Council as a whole.

3.6

The data collection exercise has covered some £360 million of purchasing expenditure and the initial indications are that 84% or £302 million is purchased through contracted arrangements (including Social Services' spot purchasing of care under the `terms of inclusion'). Some 27,000 vendors are used each year, but 41% of these (over 11,000) receive only one payment. Some 450 vendors account for 56% of transactions and the top 630 account for 63% of the total value of payments made. Just 53 of these companies receive over £500,000 of business a year.

3.7

Departments have reported that over 1,500 staff (excluding schools) are regularly involved in sourcing requirements for products and services and that more than 500 individuals have an involvement in conducting tendering exercises and in contract management. No detailed time recording has been attempted, but if these employees spend 5% of their time on these activities then the Council's current commitment to procurement activity would be around 129 full time equivalents. Assuming an average cost per employee of £23,000 (bottom of Scale 6 plus a 20% on cost), the financial impact could be in the region of £3 million per annum.

Commercial Awareness and Skills Development

3.8

The need to develop procurement skills and competencies has been recognised in the corporate procurement strategy. It will not be necessary to `reinvent the wheel', but undertaking a skills analysis and applying a competency framework at a practical level are likely to be substantial tasks. An initial workshop to consider the competency framework prepared by the IDeA will take place in January 2004.

3.9

It is therefore, planned to develop and deliver some relevant training to individuals involved in procurement in parallel with work on the competency framework. The initial requirement is for a `Procurement Overview' course for staff involved in sourcing. This will seek to communicate the procurement strategy, the role of the CPN and the management of procurement within SAP. Due to the numbers involved, face-to-face briefings are impractical and it is intended to develop a self-managed e-learning package. Specialist events for smaller numbers of staff in areas such as managing a tender exercise, negotiation skills and contract management will be undertaken at a later date.

Published Information

3.10

The CPN has established an internal procurement website. The site contains background papers and copies of both the County Council's procurement strategy and the national strategy.

3.11

A homepage containing public procurement information for the business community will be made available shortly. The first information to be published will be an indicative list of forthcoming contract opportunities. Initially this list will only contain contracts with a value of more than £75,000. As the mechanisms to gather and publish this information become established, the CPN expects to publish information relating to lower value contracts and to provide more detail on the timetables for individual contracts.

3.12

The procurement action plan also includes a commitment to produce a guide for suppliers on `How to do business with the County Council' and a purchasing manual for staff. A first draft of the Suppliers' Guide is almost complete and publication on the website is planned by March 2004. The purchasing manual is unlikely to be available before September 2004, but in the interim, a short booklet on purchasing basics will be produced to support the `Procurement Overview' package (referred to in paragraph 3.9).

Performance Management

3.13

The bulk of procurement activity is undertaken within departments in support of specialist activity. For this reason, CMT has also agreed that the CPN would report on procurement within departments as well as activity at the `corporate' level. This information has been submitted by departments and will be included in the next progress report to CMT. A summary of the key points included in these reports is shown at Appendix 4 for the information of the Panel. Specific work is being undertaken within the Environment and PBRS departments to implement recommendations from the `Rethinking Construction' agenda, particularly in relation to partnership arrangements and sustainability. Most departments are actively promoting increased use of existing corporate contracts and reducing off-contract purchasing. However, a greater focus on recent achievements, key challenges and planned initiatives will be aimed for in the next round of performance reports.

3.14

The County Treasurer's Professional Services staff have also been commissioned to undertake some research on procurement performance indicators (PIs). This is intended to complement both the PIs included in the procurement strategy and those recently issued by the IDeA.

Role of PBRS - County Supplies

3.15

The procurement action plan is effectively being delivered within existing resources from departmental budgets and from the trading account of County Supplies. County Supplies funds both the Head of Business Services and the Procurement Development Manager and has established three new posts to support the strategy of driving forward further aggregation of expenditure and greater corporate cohesion in the procurement of general goods and services. Other costs associated with this leadership role include specialist analysis of vendor data (£15,000) and an e-tendering pilot (£6,000). As more projects such as e-procurement and the development of training are undertaken, it is likely that resource constraints and funding issues will come forward.

Areas for further development

3.16

The CPN needs to keep pace with external developments and with the increasing volume of guidance material that is available. Examples of this are the `Gateway' review process recommended by the OGC for major procurement projects and reverse electronic auctions. These need to be formally reviewed against current practice in order to determine whether the proposals will add value. This process has been hampered by work on other priorities and there are signs that the CPN will need to expand the resources that can be called upon either by engaging a wider pool of officers, additional procurement support staff or consultants to fulfil individual commissions.

4.

Key Issues

Action Plan

4.1

Much work has been undertaken at a national level to identify the characteristics of `good' procurement management and this has translated into a large body of guidance against which local authorities can expect to be measured. The County Council's own action plan has a good fit with this agenda, but itself represents a large and growing amount of activity. The Council can demonstrate good progress, but the speed with which progress can be made is linked to the level of resources committed to the programme.

The CPN has improved the co-ordination of activity and the visibility of procurement issues, but the competing demands of the SAP implementation mean that the resources of departments and the new staff at County Supplies are not yet clearly focussed on delivery of the improvement programme. Competition for these resources can be expected to continue over the next year.

A good example of this conflict is the work required to support the implementation of the e-procurement facilities available within SAP. Although Supplies does support the National e-Procurement Project (NePP) and is working with a small number of suppliers regarding catalogue data, it must also give priority to recreating electronic links with Portsmouth and Southampton City Councils and to the availability of internet sales facilities within SAP (known as the on-line store).

Procurement Performance

4.2

A number of Best Value reviews of corporate procurement have been completed by other local authorities and inspection reports are available on the Audit Commission's website. Commonly identified issues include:

· the relatively low level of internal challenge to established

procurement strategies,

· the level of political engagement,

· a lack of strategic direction and a failure to focus on high value/high
risk procurements.

4.3

The County Council has the option of undertaking a formal review of corporate procurement during 2004/05. This would provide a catalyst for formal consultation with the County Council's suppliers and stakeholders and for a review of management arrangements, but it could also divert effort from the established improvement plan. The Director of Property, Business and Regulatory Services will conclude a recommendation on this issue in the near future, but as a minimum, a `healthcheck' review against the NPSLG will be undertaken by 2005. A table showing milestones taken from the NPSLG is included at Appendix 5.

Joint working and the regional agenda

4.4

Much of published guidance recommends collaboration with others in order to improve outcomes. This principle is applied in a range of circumstances, including e-procurement and between counties and districts to aggregate demand, reduce duplication of effort and accelerate the implementation of improvements. This policy has been applied within central government in the form of `Centres of Excellence' (COE) and there are strong signs that the ODPM will seek to establish these within local government. At this stage, it is not clear whether an individual authority can become a COE, but it is likely that they will become a feature of the debate on regionalism. Nine COE are proposed in England (one in each of the regions) and after a period of direct funding, they are expected to become self-sustaining.

4.5

Some authorities have responded quickly in this area and are seeking to widen existing collaboration into new areas - Essex County Council has contacted other member authorities of the Central Buying Consortium (CBC) to exchange information and explore possible joint action in the areas of waste management and passenger transport and is also `host' to a Procurement Agency for Essex that is jointly funded by the district councils. Hampshire County Council supports the HIOWA Supplies Group, but this is not currently functioning at a strategic level and joint activity through this group has been driven by tactical advantage rather than strategic vision. A report has been prepared for (but not submitted to) the HIOWA Chief Executive's Group, which outlines the current level of collaboration.

4.6

The next conference of the CBC in March 2004 will have `Raising Performance Through Procurement' as its central theme. All district authorities within the Consortium's area of membership will be invited to this event. The speakers will include the Under Secretary of State at the ODPM and the Chief Executives of Suffolk and Surrey County Councils.

Recommendations

1.

It is recommended that the Panel notes the completion of the Corporate Procurement Strategy and the creation of a substantial action plan to deliver improvements in the management of procurement.

2.

That the Buildings, Land and Contracts Panel advises the Executive Member for Policy and Resources:

1. That the Director of Property, Business and Regulatory Services, as the Corporate Management Team's sponsor for the procurement agenda, brings forward recommendations to the Panel on the further development of procurement within the Council, and on the nature and scope of a review of procurement to take place in 2004.

2. The Panel considers at a future meeting the level of resources and the resolution of issues needed to demonstrate an `excellent' level of performance against the standards set out in the National Procurement Strategy for Local Government and other major national reports.

3. Further reports on progress, departmental performance, and the outcome of the procurement `healthcheck' be presented to future meetings of the Panel.

Key Objective 1: Ensure that procurement is appropriately managed and controlled and is legal, ethical, transparent and cost-effective

Central Support Departments

Education

Environment

PBRS

Recreation & Heritage

Social Services

SAP rollout completed. Promotion of on-contract purchasing.

Contract Standing Orders Review Group to be reconvened.

Small focus group reviewed arrangements to ensure compliance.

Benefits of Corporate Procurement to be promoted through Resources Groups of Headteachers Conferences.

Updated guidance for staff on purchasing procedures issued. Supported by presentations to staff on a cyclical basis.

SAP rollout completed. Promotion of on-contract purchasing.

Assessed insurance risks for corporate contracts.

Contract Management System Developed for corporate contracts arranged by County Supplies.

Revised standard conditions of contract.

Contract documentation amended to cover requirements of the Care Standards Act and adult protection requirements.

In the process of establishing an approved list of children's services care providers.

Key Objective 2: Promote procurement planning and practice which supports the County Council's 6 strategic objectives audits and its aims for sustainability, equality and economic development.

Central Support Departments

Education

Environment

PBRS

Recreation & Heritage

Social Services

Investigation into electronic dissemination of press cuttings, which will reduce newspaper purchase and assist in meeting sustainability targets.

Draft Contract Code of Practice on Workforce Matters prepared and being consulted on.

Draft contract clauses on race equality prepared and being consulted on.

Chief Executive's co-ordinating partnership working between the Corporate Procurement Network and the Sustainable Steering Group to develop practical ways of embedding sustainability in procurement.

Key Objective 2: Cont/d.

The Economic Development Office has organised a Conference on local food procurement, and will be holding a "Meet the Supplier" event in February. Action is underway to support access to County Council procurement by local business, with the development of an information leaflet, the publication of tendering opportunities on the website and eventually a system of email alerts for interested companies.

Reviewed the waste contracts with schools to provide greater options for recycling paper and other waste whilst achieving value for money.

Sustainable development seminar attended by relevant staff. A further event planned for 3 March to include Members.

Contracting for construction based on price, quality, environmental and sustainability issues including,

- recycling

- disruption

- vehicle movements

- ecological impact.

Support for green electricity for street lighting consumption to meet target of > 5%.

Sustainability and Equality clauses included in contract conditions.

County Supplies staff attended a sustainable purchasing seminar.

New electricity contracts with an element of `green' supply.

Updated Green Buying Guide.

Sustainability and Equality clauses included in contract conditions.

Procurement issues represented at the Economic Development Conference.

New contract for recycling services established for computers and associated equipment.

Presentations to staff groups on procurement issues and policies.

Cont/d..

Key Objective 3: Ensure a structured approach to education, training and development for all staff with procurement responsibilities across the County Council.

Central Support Departments

Education

Environment

PBRS

Recreation & Heritage

Social Services

Promotion of Corporate Procurement Strategy.

Presentations to DMTs.

Chief Execs and P&T departments involved in CPN sub-group developing procurement training and competencies for staff.

Promotion of Corporate Procurement Strategy.

Presentation to DMT

Promotion of Corporate Procurement Strategy.

Presentation to DMB.

Copies of Strategy circulated to all members of SMG.

Cyclical visits to staff responsible for procurement to provide an update on current purchasing requirements and policies.

Promotion of Corporate Procurement Strategy.

Presentation to SMG.

Conducted a programme of staff training for all buying and contracts staff at County Supplies to raise awareness of changes to Standing Orders and contract insurance requirements.

Promotion of Corporate Procurement Strategy.

Presentation to DMT.

Key Objective 4: Reduce the cost of the procurement process and obtain value for money on all procured goods, works and services and to improve and use procurement management information.

Central Support Departments

Education

Environment

PBRS

Recreation & Heritage

Social Services

Promotion of on-contract purchasing via SAP.

Renew and promote corporate framework contract for market research, public opinion polling and related services.

Exploring the renewal and broadening of the existing courier contract as a corporate framework agreement for all departments.

Active involvement in corporate Agency staff contract evaluation.

Promotion of value for money benefits for schools.

EdICT to trial direct link through EBP to a supplier's website for greater efficiency of the procurement process as part of the rollout of this functionality by the Enterprise Team.

Review of consultants procurement underway to improve VFM.

Active involvement in corporate Agency Staff contract evaluation.

Review being carried out of off-contract purchasing in progress to improve value for money.

New photocopier contract in place with substantial saving.

Awarded new electricity contracts.

New telesales system for placing orders for the supply of food to school kitchens.

Key Objective 5: Promote co-operative procurement arrangements, on behalf of the County Council with public, private and voluntary sector organisations.

Central Support Departments

Education

Environment

PBRS

Recreation & Heritage

Social Services

Partnerships with voluntary and private sectors will be reviewed at renewal stage.

Partnerships with Atkins for term consultancy and Raynesway for term maintenance contract are valued at £3M pa and £25M pa respectively.

The term consultancy contract has provided a vital resource to help with delivering the Highways Capital Programme with shared systems, recruitment and training facilities.

The "Blue Print" review of highway maintenance services has abolished the district agency arrangements and transferred service delivery to direct control. Providing savings through economies of scale. Other enhancements include improved communications and waste minimisation.

Website entries have been provided to assist contact with council procurement teams.

Continue to maintain strong links with The Central Buying Consortium which consists of 17 authorities. County Supplies chairs 4 of the CBC working groups.

Participation in and chairmanship of Local Authority Supplies Group which involves most of the local authorities in Hampshire.

Key Objective 6: Develop and implement e-procurement to reduce transaction costs for the County Council and its suppliers and to meet e-government targets and maximise the benefits of the implementation of SAP.

Central Depts

Education

Environment

PBRS

Recreation & Heritage

Social Services

Rollout of SAP completed.

Will be reviewed from June following roll-out of SAP across the department.

Review of off-contract purchasing underway with County Supplies prior to rollout of SAP. Office supplies to be moved on-contract.

Rollout of SAP completed.

Continued development and maintenance of the electronic catalogue.

Commenced exploratory work using an e-tendering system.

Rollout of SAP completed.

Key Objective 7: Develop the Government's `Rethinking Construction' agenda and apply the appropriate principles to the Council's construction related procurement (applicable to Environment and PBRS Departments only).

1. Joint Environment and Property Services working group currently reviewing construction procurement, including sustainability issues.

2. Contract requirements reviewed to include wider use of price and quality type contracts, including assessment of whole life costs and best value.

3. Register of approved contractors recently reviewed and focussed on high performing local contractors with good sustainability credentials.

4. Long term contracts in place for waste disposal, highway maintenance and engineering consultancy.

Key Objective 8: Ensure value for money and effective outcomes in purchasing social care.

Other developments not mentioned within other key objectives are:

1. Market movements continue to be mapped by the HQ Contracts Team to identify trends and to influence commissioning strategies.

2. Links developed with local planning authorities on residential home planning applications to influence capacity and maintenance of market capacity.

3. Premium payment introduced for elderly mentally infirm residential care to provide greater capacity and improve hospital discharge rates.

4. New block contracts and contract terms being developed for learning disability services to meet the `Supporting People' initiative and to achieve savings.

5. Increase in number of people receiving support at home with more intensive care needs which has improved performance against government targets and reduced the number of

people requiring residential or nursing care or hospital admission.

Key Objective 9: Develop consistent, cost-effective and best practice processes for the purchase of consultancy services.

Central Depts

Education

Environment

PBRS

Recreation & Heritage

Social Services

Renew and promote corporate framework contract for market research, public opinion polling and related services.

Term Consultancy contract in place with Atkins for the provision of engineering design and transport planning services. Contract is based a full partnership with shared training and recruitment facilities.

Key Objective 10: Promote the development and use of performance measures for the procurement function.

Central Depts

Education

Environment

PBRS

Recreation & Heritage

Social Services

Support for key performance indicators for procurement including review of consultancy appointments to a potential framework procurement model.

Implementation of SAP will improve use of corporate suppliers and improve efficiency and value for money.

Self assessment of County Supplies using the Procurement Excellence Model - based on the European Foundation for Quality Management.

Maintain an existing wide range of procurement key performance indicators.

Actions:

Themes

2004

2005

2006

1. Providing leadership and

building capacity

· Corporate procurement strategy developed, owned by chief executives, members and senior officers

· Strategy's implementation regularly measured

· Health checks against National Strategy (single tiers and county councils)

· Centres of Excellence involved (districts and upper tiers)

· Health checks against National Strategy (districts)

2. Partnering and collaboration

· Approach to partnering in construction and service delivery set out

· Approach to collaboration and new trading powers set out

· Appraisal of service delivery models included in Best Value reviews

· Average time from OJEU notice to contract award reduced by 10%

· Smaller districts collaborating with others for shared services

· All councils co-operating regionally via networks of centres of excellence

· Average time from OJEU notice to contract award reduced by 25%

3. Doing business electronically

· Appropriate e-Procurement solution implemented

· Using government procurement card/equivalent for low value purchases

· Progress being measured

· Accessing an appropriate e-Marketplace

Actions:

Themes

2004

2005

2006

4. Stimulating markets and achieving

community benefits

· Staff consulted on employment issues in procurement processes and contracts

· 2003 Act and 03/2003 Circular built into processes and contracts

· Publish a Selling to the Council guide (website)

· Ensure corporate procurement strategy is addressing sustainability and equality issues, helps to achieve the community plan and involves the voluntary sector

· Conclude a compact with the local voluntary and community sectors

· Relationship of procurement to community plan addressed

· Workforce diversity, equality and sustainability issues addressed

· Diverse and competitive supply market encouraged

· Sustainability built into procurement strategy, processes and contracts

· Concordat for SMEs and voluntary sector compact concluded

· Information Memorandum to prospective bidders included in processes

· Invitation to bidders to demonstrate effective use of supply chain included

· Give bidders option to specify benefits under community plan