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PROCUREMENT STRATEGY
2017-2019
A fresh approach to people, homes and communities
Berneslai Homes Limited is a company controlled by Barnsley Metropolitan Borough Council.
A company limited by guarantee, registered in England and Wales, number 4548803.
Registered Office: Gateway Plaza, Barnsley,S70 2DJ. www.berneslaihomes.co.uk
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Our Procurement Strategy sets out the Vision and Strategic Aims which direct and govern our
procurement activities.
Good procurement is essential because by buying well Berneslai Homes can secure savings that
can be put back into our front line services for tenants.
The aim of this strategy is to set out the approach that Berneslai Homes is taking to deliver modern,
efficient and effective procurement that not only complies with current regulations and legislative
requirements but also has a positive impact on the communities we work in.
This strategy is intended to set a clear outline as to the approach the company takes during its
procurement activities, which will mean that we obtain true value for money whilst maintaining an
excellent service provision.
The strategy is supported by detailed procurement rules and regulations, our Financial Regulations
and Contract Procedure Rules and a number of operational procedures.
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Introduction
1.
PROCUREMENT
1.1 What is Procurement?
Procurement is the process of purchasing goods, works and services, covering acquisition from
both third parties and in-house providers. The process spans the whole life cycle from identification
of needs, through to the end of a works or services contract or the end of the useful life of an asset.
It involves options appraisal and critical decisions relating to internal or external sourcing.
Procurement ensures we seek value for money, including social value, in how we deliver
commissioning plans. Berneslai Homes must work within European and other legislation using
processes that are open and transparent.
1.2 The procurement landscape
Public procurement operates in a highly regulated environment that is governed by
legislation and policies set by the European Union, nationally through statute and case
law, and locally by Contract Procedure Rules and Financial Regulations.
In addition to legislation Berneslai Homes is also required to fulfil other obligations
placed upon it such as the Local Government Transparency Code 2015, and to
implement initiatives introduced by the UK Government.
Procurement is underpinned by a set of principles including awarding contracts on the
basis of best value, using multi-disciplined project teams etc. The effort expended on
individual procurements is proportionate to the value and risk associated with the
contract.
Responsibility for acquiring goods, services and works valued up to £100k is delegated
to Service Areas under the strategic leadership of the Procurement Manager
The contract procedure rules clearly define the rules for procurement and the
financial scheme of delegation for accepting quotes and tenders.
Berneslai Homes is continuing to develop its procurement and commissioning process, which will
ultimately inform how works and services are procured. It is important that all our procurement
exercises follow a logical and robust process and using the procurement cycle as a basis we have
developed the following process which will inform how all our procurement exercises are
undertaken:
1.3 Corporate Priorities
Berneslai Homes procurement activity operates within a strategic framework consisting of this
Corporate Procurement Strategy Financial Regulations and Contract Procedure Rules.
All our procurement activity is carried out in a manner which supports the organisations values and
strategic priorities.
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1.4 Planning
Where practically possible all our procurement activity is pre-planned and detailed within the
organisations procurement plan. Each procurement project has a business case, documenting key
aspects of the procurement, which is signed off by the key stakeholder prior to the commencement
of the procurement process. The details required to be included in a business case is linked to the
value.
1.5 Options
We consider the options available for each procurement project to achieve the desired outcomes.
The decision is also made as to the most appropriate route to procure goods, services and works to
ensure that the organisation achieves value for money.
Procurement is a continuous cycle from specifying goods and services through to contract
end/renewal, as per diagram below.
The Procurement Cycle
2.0 Vision for Procurement
Our Vision is to ensure that procurement:
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Contributes to delivering Berneslai Homes’ strategic objectives;
Helps to deliver value for money and improvements in service delivery arrangements;
Is planned and undertaken in a structured, controlled and co-ordinated way;
Contributes to delivery of the budget, Strategic Plan and Value for Money Strategy;
Utilises technology to improve services and generate efficiencies;
Embraces modern methods of procurement to achieve further efficiencies and
Establishes and develops collaborative opportunities, partnerships and new and more effective
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ways of working.
Encourages local suppliers to tender for our work
Ensure our governance arrangements are fit for purpose and regularly reviewed.
Considers social, environmental and sustainability issues
Keeps up to date with policy changes and new Acts that impact on the procurement service
Contribute to the Council’s Strategic objectives by being a key a partner of One Barnsley we
have signed up to the Apprenticeship Pledge and Local Spend targets
2.1 Local Context
A central objective of this strategy is to support commissioning and procurement to consider the
wider economic, social and environmental implications (particularly locally) and how to improve the
local social value we can derive from contracts. The earlier in the commissioning process these
considerations are made the greater the opportunity for added social benefits for Barnsley and
Berneslai Homes customers. As part of our one Barnsley pledge Berneslai Homes reports on our
local spend and % of our workforce that are apprentices in our quarterly report to the Council. The
target is that 50% of monies should be spent locally and that we will employ a minimum of 3% of
our workforce as apprentices.
Berneslai Homes published its first procurement strategy in 2008-2010, at this time procurement
was relatively new to the business and the priority was and still is to ensure compliance. Over the
course of the strategy, Procurement has evolved and has assisted Berneslai Homes in changing
buying from a tactical function buying like for like to a strategic function.
2.2 What have we achieved so far?
There has been a 40% reduction in the number of suppliers used by BH Construction Services from
229 to 140. The benefits of a smaller supply base lie in the area of reduced costs: lower prices by
leveraging volume with fewer suppliers, fewer transactions to manage, and better collaboration with
the “critical few”, and high-performing suppliers that remain.
The last part is key – high-performing. As part of this Berneslai Homes need to be certain that we
are working with the best, most qualified suppliers. Reducing the overall number of suppliers is less
important than having the highest quality, most appropriate suppliers to support our business. So
that our reduction meets these requirements we have made sure as part of this that we have
enough qualified suppliers.
Berneslai Homes assess the impact of our spend on the local economy in Barnsley. Our spend is
monitored quarterly with this being around the 70% mark over the last twelve months, against a
target of 50%. Berneslai Homes is part of the one Barnsley partnership
We have amended our contract procedure rules so that where possible two local companies are
included in our quotations for contracts below £100,000.
Where our procurements are valued in excess of £100,000 we have an approved procurement
Plan in place prior to commencing procurement and this delivers sustainability, local economic
development and equality and diversity objectives.
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We have developed staff to ensure we have procurement expertise within the company and we
now have a centralised Procurement Team. The Procurement Manager is fully CIPS qualified and a
Trainee Procurement Coordinator has been appointed who is undertaking the CIPS examinations
to level 6 so that we will have two members of the team that are fully CIPS qualified. The team are
continuing to develop and provide support on procurement to all areas of the business.
Berneslai Homes has a Contracts Register, which gives details of all current contracts let by
Berneslai Homes, as required by our Financial Regulations and the Local Government
Transparency Act 2015. This is also used to help plan future procurement requirements and
contracts.
The contracts register is available to be viewed on our website, ensuring we are open and
transparent about our expenditure.
All subcontractors that Berneslai Homes work with are approved by CHAS/SSIP to ensure high
standards of Health and Safety are maintained. We have introduced a compliance register to
ensure contractors and suppliers we use continue to meet our Insurance and Health and Safety
requirements.
We’ve introduced electronic invoicing and query systems in partnership with BMBC Financial
Services. This means we have reduced the number of invoices paid manually and further
improvements have meant reductions in the number of our invoices going into query. This has
reduced over the last 12 months from 50% to 17% ensuring our suppliers are getting paid quickly
and within terms.
All procurement exercises over £2,500 are conducted electronically using YORtender saving time
and printing costs and increasing probity and efficiency.
All procurement is conducted in a professional manner with high standards of probity, transparency,
openness, accountability and fairness.
Social and Environmental aspects are considered during all stages of a procurement process and
as part of the whole life cost of a contract. We ensure that all procurements have regard to
environmental and sustainability impact. These issues are considered and addressed when writing
specifications, evaluating tenders and throughout the delivery of a contract. We have exceeded the
target of employing apprentices we are meeting 4% against a target of 3%.
Collaboration and Partnership – Berneslai Homes has worked on collaboration with Procurement
frameworks to procure contracts where aggregation has been proven to achieve the required
outcomes including Procure Plus (kitchens, composite doors and heating packs) EN Procure
(Roofing and Brickwork subcontractor) Yorkshire Purchasing Organisation (Building Materials,
Electrical Materials and Plumbing and Heating Materials) Northern Housing Consortium (payment
services) & Procurement for Housing. Berneslai Homes have also taken part in a joint Procurement
for legal services with St Leger Homes of Doncaster and A1 Housing and also recently lead on a
joint procurement with St Leger Homes for a scaffolding framework. This has resulted in savings in
time and aggregated savings by working together.
One of our challenges going forward is how we ensure value for money by utilising consortium
frameworks whilst still supporting local businesses and the local economy of Barnsley.
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2.3 What are our key considerations moving forward?
Contract management – Ensure this is embedded within the company and that attention is
focused on the most critical relationships, suppliers and contracts. We will look at how we can do
this and work to segment contracts into categories based on the risk status and value of the
contract or spend with a supplier
Procurement Team - Increasing Procurement’s presence within the company and with suppliers
so they know to look for any tender opportunities we may have. This includes increasing our
presence in social media via Twitter and LinkedIn.
Consider the Modern Slavery Act and ensure we have a company statement in place, ensure we
build this into our procurement exercises and build monitoring of this into contract management.
Further develop social value - into our contracts and ensure this is monitored and reported
Value for money - Demonstrate and continuously improve
Extend compliance - with internal contract procedure rules and polices and the EU Procurement
regulations.
3.
Delivery and monitoring of the Strategy
3.1 How we will deliver our Procurement Strategy
The Procurement Strategy will be delivered in the wider context of our Strategic Plan. The
Procurement Strategy is a key part of our commitment to ensure that we provide accessible and
responsive services which are cost effective. We will ensure that each service obtains the goods
and services it needs to operate effectively from the most appropriate and economically
advantageous source.
3.2 How we will monitor our Procurement Strategy
The Procurement Manager will review progress against the Action Plan on a regular basis and an
annual report will be submitted to the Audit Committee providing an update on progress.
3.3 Communicating the Strategy
This strategy will be communicated via publication on the website and intranet, staff induction and
relevant updates via Corporate Team Brief.
3.4 Measuring the strategy
The success of the Procurement Strategy will be measured via various methods including:
 Monitoring KPI’s
 Efficiency Register
 Stakeholder Feedback (staff, customers & suppliers)
 Internal audit reports
 External benchmarking and best practice
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Achievement against the action plan
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3.5 Review the Strategy
The Strategy and action plan will be reviewed on an annual basis, or at any time as necessary to
allow for changes due to legislation or business requirements.
3.6 Equality Impact Assessment
An Equality Impact Assessment has been completed for this strategy that has assessed impact on
staff, customers and suppliers. There is no negative impact on protected characteristics as a result
of this strategy. An Equality Impact Assessment is carried out on all Procurements value over
£100,000
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