Over the last year, there has again been a surge of interest in public procurement not only at the highest levels of government, but also within the media and among the public. And this is not due to high-profile projects vastly overspending, but is down to the spreading realisation that better management of spending on the goods and services the public sector uses can mean more nurses in hospital wards and police officers on the streets, and even lower council tax.

The potential for procurement to make major savings that can then directly affect citizens has fired the imagination of elected officials and civil servants across the UK. This has been in no small part due to Sir Peter Gershon’s Efficiency Review and the implementation of its plans. However, the success of the Review in establishing the level of efficiencies possible is itself a testament to the groundwork that hundreds of procurement personnel have laid in securing even better value.

National Public Procurement Practitioners Day (N3PD) on 7 June 2005, and the accompanying Government Opportunities (GO) Excellence in Public Procurement Awards, celebrated the successes of these very people working within procurement and the part they have played in delivering effective public services.

N3PD, organised by BiP Solutions, attracted over 140 people to One Great George Street in London to witness these prestigious Awards being bestowed on the profession. The event also hosted a number of high-profile speakers representing procurement at UK, European and international levels.

John Oughton, Chief Executive of the Office of Government Commerce, outlined how the £7 billion of procurement savings targeted in the Efficiency Review can be met. He said that the Review “is not about saving money to send back to the Treasury”, but is about authorities and departments reinvesting their own efficiencies back into their own frontline services. He also highlighted that “we will need all of your good work to help meet the challenges”, and of this “celebrating public procurement is an important part”. Key to success, he said, included sharing best practice and developing a greater depth of skills within the profession. In a bid to foster ever closer working ties, he also urged the assembled cross-section of procurement professionals to “encourage competition in the market while avoiding competition with one another”. “If we work together we will achieve our goals,” he assured those present.

From Europe, Philippe Lebaube, Head of Multimedia at OPOCE, in charge of the EU’s public procurement products such as SIMAP and TED, outlined the changes to the standard forms used to submit contract advertisements to the Official Journal of the European Union (OJEU). Although the forms will be changing this year to accommodate the adoption of the EU Consolidated Procurement Directive, the date has yet to be established. He urged the audience, however, to think carefully about the information they submit to the OJEU, and for it to be effective in attracting useful bids. “The more specific the specification, the better you communicate with the market,” he said.

Bernard Longhi – Chairman, UN/CEFACT TBG6 – outlined how his organisation, working under the auspices of the United Nations, is helping to standardise e-procurement across the globe, and in particular he thanked BiP Solutions for its help towards this goal. He highlighted the work of many countries towards developing more efficient purchasing processes, such as the Republic of Korea which publishes 70% of its public contracts electronically. Despite the drive towards the adoption of e-procurement, he noted that more efficient purchasing was about more than just technology. Quoting Government Opportunities’ Editorial Advisory Board member Professor Michael Quayle, he stressed that “procurement is about people, expertise and performance, not simply about process”.

The final speaker, Allan Connarty, Director of Operations for the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators (CIArb), highlighted the benefits of Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) over costly litigation. Promoting PADRE, a new ADR service jointly delivered by BiP Solutions and the CIArb, he said: “Don’t call the lawyer, don’t call the court, call PADRE instead – it could be your saviour.”

N3PD, sponsored by Government Opportunities and Constructionline, also managed to raise over £5000 for the British Heart Foundation, which was presented at the event to the charity’s representative Maureen Betts by BiP Solutions Managing Director Ron Burges.