Preferred Partners Procurement Roundtable

This Autumn, we were proud to host our third Preferred Partners event of the year in the Fenton Lounge at the Riverside Stadium. During our Procurement Roundtable, we were joined by 30 industry leaders from our Preferred Partners network, including representatives from construction companies, contractors, education representatives and procurement experts.

We were delighted to be joined by Daniel Hall, the Bid Director of The Evolve Network Group, who talked us through the do’s and don’ts of Bid Qualification, before leading an engaging Q&A session, in which we discussed the current landscape, and the future developments, of the procurement process.

Daniel has a wealth of experience when it comes to procurement, having worked in the bid space for ten years, with many businesses from a range of industries across the North East and beyond. He began by highlighting the three key aspects of bid qualification; bid production, finance and operations, before emphasising the growing importance of quality-over-cost, as well as social value. The social value element can be delivered in a number of ways, such as the creation of local jobs and apprenticeships, staff CPD, and tapping into the local supply chain. Paul Shepherd, Business Development Manager of the MFC Foundation, touched on the role that the Foundation could play here for those within the Preferred Partners network; “There are many ways the MFC Foundation can support organisations own ESG strategy and implementation from our volunteering opportunities, community engagement and events to mention a few.”

Summarising some of the most essential elements to consider when writing a successful bid, Daniel said; “It’s about making sure that you’re qualifying it right and looking at the evaluation criteria. You must ensure that you are adding value, while evidencing that with detail, and showcasing experience.”

During the free-form discussion following Daniel’s presentation, the importance of social value was again underlined, with Lewis Hughes from MGL Group saying; “Quite a lot of the time, social value is make-or-break as to whether or not you win the contract, because it’s highly competitive these days as everyone has similar quality scores.”

We were joined by Womble Bond Dickinson Solicitor, Laura McIntyre, who touched on recommendations when bids are not successful “if something’s wrong, you’ve got to challenge it live in the moment. You generally have 30-days from the date of knowledge to challenge, so you can’t wait until you’ve lost. If there’s something wrong or unclear in the documents, or if you are not sure how you’ll be scored, you’ve got to challenge it there and then, while the contracting authority can still do something about it.” She goes on, “You don’t actually have to incur legal fees to informally challenge a procurement process. You don’t have to go to a lawyer to challenge, unless you want to litigate.” This information is valuable to SMEs who could find themselves struggling against some of the bigger competitors, that can often win these bids on pure scale.

As for the future of procurement, there was much discussion over the introduction and implementation of the upcoming Procurement Act, aimed to streamline the bidding process nationally. In particular, there will be a centralised digital platform hosting various information on upcoming, live and completed procurements. It will be essential for all suppliers looking to win public sector bids to register on that platform. The session was a valuable opportunity for industry professionals, with a wealth of experience, to collaborate and learn from one another about the issues that affect all within the sector.

Preferred Partners

Our Preferred Partners programme is an opportunity for companies to work more collaboratively throughout the sector. Companies registered on Preferred Partners get access to members only events and discussions as well as opportunities to work together on incredible projects through collaborative working.

“It’s good for education to be part of the Lynas Roundtable events, because, as educators, we want to know what’s going on in the sector and we want our learners to remain in touch with the latest industry developments. This ensures that when they join the industry, they are ready to make an impact.”

John Cartwright, Hartlepool College of Further Education

“Another excellent Preferred Partners event, with a fascinating discussion around the forthcoming changes in the procurement laws and some of the challenges around public sector procurement. It’s always great to see everyone at these events”.