Procurement

Wednesday 25th April 2012, Guoman Charing Cross Hotel - London, 08:45 - 16:10

Public Sector Procurement: Opening up the Market

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Overview

The Open Public Services White Paper, published July 2011, outlines the government’s commitment to open up public services to new providers from the public, voluntary and private sector. This, alongside a growing number of public sector organisations outsourcing and adopting a shared service model, will have an impact on the supply base and procurement landscape.

The government has introduced a range of policies to improve public procurement, with the aim of streamlining procedures, improving access for SMEs and encouraging innovation. The Autumn Statement 2011 introduced a package of measures to deliver better value for the UK from public procurement. To simplify the procurement process to reduce burdens on industry, the government will make better use of pre-procurement dialogue with suppliers to ensure procurement processes are well designed and quickly carried out. The government will complete all but the very biggest and most complex procurement processes within 120 working days by introducing the lean sourcing process from January 2012. These measures build on the government’s announcement on 20th November 2011 to publish £50 billion of potential business online, make it 40 percent faster to do business with government, and collaborate with businesses at a much earlier stage in the procurement process so they don’t find themselves excluded from opportunities.

According to the Cabinet Office the average public sector procurement currently costs around £46,000, compared to around £19,000 in France. This highlights the urgent need to make things better and easier for UK-based suppliers.

Procurement laws and regulations are also undergoing reform in the EU. In January 2011, the European Commission published its Green Paper Modernisation of the EU’s Procurement Rules which outlined the EU’s commitment that proposals to simplify the public procurement directives will be published at the end of 2011 or early 2012.

Agenda

At this timely forum, delegates will have the opportunity to hear the latest policy update on procurement law and legislation in the UK and EU, as well as understand what the changing nature of the procurement landscape will mean for commissioners, suppliers and providers. Delegates will also gain a practical knowledge of managing public procurement and understand how to overcome the legal pitfalls.

08:45	Registration and Coffee
09:50	Chair’s Welcome Address Professor Dermot Cahill, Director, Institute for Competition and Procurement Studies, Bangor University (CONFIRMED)
10:00	Morning Keynote: Transforming Public Sector Procurement: Streamlining Practice and Improving Access Improving operational efficiency through further development of ‘lean’ processes Implementing centralised category strategies to deliver savings by aggregating spend and better managing supplier base Effectively balancing the competing interests between a competitive procurement process: achieving the best value for money and the transparency duties Simplifying the procurement process to meet environmental and economical objectives Overcoming the legal barriers to opening up the market to new suppliers David Smith CB, Deputy Chief Procurement Officer and Commercial Director, Department for Work and Pensions (CONFIRMED)
10:20	Special Keynote: Recent Developments in EU Procurement Law - Measuring the Impact EC public procurement – case law and regulation Cooperation among contracting authorities in light of the case-law of the The Court of Justice of the European Union Overcoming the complexities of procurement of public service contracts Selecting award criteria appropriately Encouraging member state governments to collaborate on purchasing Right to challenges bad practice procurement decisions Implications of the EU Remedies Directive Professor Christopher Bovis, Chair in Law and Professor of European Business Law, University of Hull & Advisor to the Government on Procurement (CONFIRMED)
10:40	Special Keynote: What Do We Want, and Why do we Want it?” The current financial health of the public sector The role of private providers What is the market buying and why? What does the future look like for the industry and its supply chain David Clark, Chief Executive, SOLACE Enterprises (CONFIRMED)
11:00	Questions and Answers Session
11:20	Coffee and Networking
11:40	Effective Purchasing from the Voluntary, Community and Social Enterprise Sector Impact of current procurement practices on third sector providers Creating opportunities for third sector organisations to be involved in the procurement process Enabling VCOs to compete for public sector contracts Opening up supply opportunities to VCOs Building effective relationships and removing some of the barriers they face in the successful delivery of government service contracts Helping public bodies to use their purchasing power to meet their wider social and environmental objectives Fiona Sheil, Public Service Delivery Network Officer, National Council for Voluntary Organisations (NCVO) (CONFIRMED)
12:00	Procurement in the New NHS: The Future Landscape for Commissioners The Any Qualified Provider model implications for public procurement and the impact on the commissioner Joining up commissioning and procurement in the NHS: ensuring it is fit for purpose Commissioning for choice and personalisation The role of procurement in NHS commissioning The future capacity and capability of commissioners to comply with procurement – investing in skills development and the impact on the GP commissioning consortia Applicability of procurement law to the NHS The potential impact of regulations on commissioners Continuing to meet the £1.2 billion savings Bob Ricketts CBE, Director of NHS Provider Transition, Department of Health (CONFIRMED)
12:20	Questions and Answers Session
12:30	Lunch and Networking
13:30	Afternoon Keynote: Procuring from SMEs - Providing a Level Playing Field Improving the transparency of public procurement opportunities Areas of opportunities for SMEs Working with the EU to lighten the regulatory burden for SMEs Overcoming the barriers to procuring from SMEs Collaborating with businesses at a much earlier stage in the procurement process Clive Davenport, Chairman, Trade & Industry Policy Unit, Federation of Small Businesses (CONFIRMED)
13:50	Overcoming the Legal Barriers to Shared Services Establishing successful local authority shared service and collaborative arrangements outside of the usual confines of the public procurement rules Implications for local authority shared service initiatives Issues for consideration when seeking to establish public/public arrangements Applying the Teckal exemption in practice Examples of recent case law involving local authorities who have joined together to pursue a collaborative venture The application of EU public procurement law to relations between contracting authorities Guidance on the governance options available Rob Hann, Director Legal Services, Local Partnerships (CONFIRMED)
14:10	Questions and Answers Session
14:30	Coffee and Networking
14:50	Right to Challenge: Successfully Challenging Bad Practice in NHS-funded healthcare services Understanding your right to challenge Best ways in which to challenge bad practice in procurement and commissioning How can organisations who wish to provide services to public bodies challenge bad practice without completely ruining their relationship with the commissioner? Changing face of procurement regulation in the healthcare sector Catherine Davies, Director, Co-operation and Competition Panel (CONFIRMED)
15:10	Case Study: Working with SMEs - Providing a Level Playing Field Improving the transparency of public procurement opportunities Areas of opportunities for SMEs Overcoming the barriers to procuring from SMEs Increasing contract opportunities for small firms Simon Hewitt, Head of Procurement & Contracts, Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (CONFIRMED)
15:30	Case Study: Working with SMEs - Experiences from the Department for Work and Pensions SME agenda and Government procurement DWP SME Action Plan and progress to date Future actions to further support SME’s Hayley Addison, Senior Commercial Policy Manager, DWP (CONFIRMED)
15:50	Questions and Answers Session
16:10	Afternoon Chair's Summary and Close

*programme subject to change without notice

Audience

Delegates attending this forum will include heads of procurement, final directors, heads of legal teams, procurement lawyers, heads of commissioning, commercial directors, heads of shared services, heads of purchasing and buying, contract managers, project directors and will be drawn from central government, local authorities, NHS, voluntary sector and the private sector.

Procurement

Wednesday 25th April 2012, Guoman Charing Cross Hotel - London, 08:45 - 16:10

Public Sector Procurement: Opening up the Market

Book Now!