Procurement transformation: architecture

30 Oct 2019 03:40 PM

Work to reshape the National Procurement Service, Value Wales and Commercial Innovation teams as outlined in Mark Drakeford’s written statement last year has been progressing.

We have established an internal Transition Oversight Group (TOG) to deliver this work. The group has been considering how we can help the Welsh public sector implement its own regional priorities, how we can increase capability in the procurement profession and how we can ensure that the Welsh Government leads by example. We have also been new initiatives such as the foundational Economy and Social Partnerships (more details will follow in future newsletters).

We have recently attended the north Wales procurement, police, higher education and Welsh Government sponsored body’s forums. We have also had individual meetings with Bangor University and the WLGA to update them and will also keep you updated as this work progresses via the NPS and Value Wales newsletter. If you attend a forum which we have not attended, or you would like us to come and meet you, please let us know.

We have devised the following 9 strands to progress this work:

  1. Leadership
    • We want the Welsh Government to lead by example by becoming an exemplar of procurement best practice.
    • We will use Government Commercial Standards to keep the Welsh Government at the necessary levels of awareness and capability.
  2. Policy initiatives driven by data
    • We will take a targeted and data-driven approach to policy application to ensure we focus efforts where maximum value can be achieved.
    • We will use a prioritisation tool to help us identify key policy areas, providing an opportunity to implement initiatives so the full value of procurement can be realised nationally, regionally and locally.
  3. Capability and profile of the procurement profession
    • We will build capability and resilience across the procurement profession in Wales to address the skills deficit, empower staff and encourage innovation.
    • We will deliver a new skills and capability plan to equip existing procurement officers with modern commercial techniques, to raise the commercial awareness of everyone else create a future talent pipeline and to raise the status of the profession across Wales
  4. A new policy development and delivery service (with toolkits)
    • We will strengthen policy development and delivery across the Welsh public sector that helps establish a culture that maximises social, economic, environmental and cultural outcomes.
    • We will provide support, training and tools to help buying organisations maximise the outcomes achieved through procurement.
  5. Supply chain intervention and analysis
    • We will implement Cabinet priorities (such as creating local jobs) by analysing data and applying interventions to supply chains throughout Wales.
    • We are re-structuring supply chains to include local suppliers that will benefit the local economy.
  6. Marketing and engagement programme
    • We will join up the Welsh public sector procurement community across Wales.
    • We will showcase success and share good practice using modern digital technology.
  7. Digital implementation plan
    • We will develop a modern infrastructure for digital procurement by collaborating with our colleagues throughout the integrated Welsh public services.
    • We are developing a progressive future digital procurement strategy, which will include plans to maximise our investment in eSourcing, Procure 2 Pay, spend analysis, contract lifecycle management and strategic supplier management tools.
  8. New governance process
    • We will implement a refreshed and overarching governance process for Welsh public sector procurement that supports the delivery of Welsh Government priorities (such as Prosperity For All), as well as other public sector priorities.
  9. Evolution of NPS
    • We will evolve into a function that is focussed on category management delivering practical policy integration.
    • We will support the development of a pipeline of contracts for Wales, and ambition to purchase innovative solutions for the Welsh public sector.

If you have any questions or comments, please get in touch by emailing: NPSCommunications@gov.wales