Best practice procurement | Engage with your procurement team

Your procurement team has a very important role in delivering your project. Understanding the role that they play and their objectives is vital when engaging in a productive relationship.

Engaging with the procurement team at the beginning of an energy project is crucial to ensure that sustainability and energy efficiency considerations are integrated into the procurement process. Here are some best practices for a local authority energy officer when engaging with their procurement team:

Early involvement: Engage with the procurement team as early as possible in the project planning phase. This allows you to influence the procurement strategy and ensure that energy efficiency requirements are considered from the outset.
Education and awareness: Ensure that the procurement team is well informed about the organisation’s sustainability and energy goals. Provide them with relevant information and training on energy-efficient technologies and practices to help them understand the importance of energy considerations in the procurement process.
Clear objectives and requirements: Clearly define the energy-related objectives and requirements for the project. This could include energy performance targets, renewable energy utilisation, energy-efficient equipment, and other relevant criteria. Specific and measurable requirements will help the procurement team in their decision-making process.

How can you work effectively with your procurement team?

Understand your organisation’s procurement strategy

The procurement team has a set of processes and approaches that will be derived from your organisation’s procurement strategy. Make sure you are up to speed on this strategy as anything you need to procure should align.

Develop a clear procurement plan

The procurement process continues through the lifecycle of the project, from engaging the procurement team to contract management. Procurement needs to be considered from an early stage in a project as it has a fundamental impact on how a project is organised.

The procurement plan influences:

how the project/programme is structured and how it manages risk
who is contractually responsible for project risks
who is responsible for the design and when specialists become involved in the design work
how and when the design team is employed
how the construction/installation teams are appointed and when their involvement can start
how the operational phase will be managed
how the project/programme is evaluated.

Best practice

Engage early

Consider inviting procurement teams into projects at the earliest possible stage to deliver maximum impact.

Influencing procurement strategy: By getting involved at the planning phase, the energy officer can provide valuable insights into energy-related opportunities and challenges. This ensures that energy considerations become an integral part of the overall project strategy and align with the organisation’s sustainability goals.
Avoiding costly changes later: Waiting until later stages to address energy or carbon-related issues can lead to costly changes or missed opportunities. Early involvement allows the procurement team to consider low-carbon solutions from the beginning, avoiding the need for major modifications to the procurement plan later on.
Risk mitigation: Identifying requirements early on helps in risk assessment and mitigation. For instance, considering energy-efficient equipment may reduce the project’s exposure to future energy price fluctuations, enhancing long-term financial stability.

Build education and awareness

Building awareness and knowledge within the procurement team about energy efficiency is vital for effective decision-making:

Importance of energy efficiency: The energy officer should emphasise the significance of energy efficiency, not only in terms of cost savings but also in reducing the organisation’s environmental footprint and contributing to broader sustainability objectives.
Low-carbon technologies and practices: Providing training and resources on various low-carbon technologies, building design considerations, and best practices equips the procurement team to evaluate and select appropriate options.
Regulatory and policy landscape: Keeping the procurement team updated on relevant energy-related regulations, incentives, and policies helps them make decisions that comply with local, regional, or national energy requirements.

Define clear objectives and requirements

Defining specific energy and carbon-related objectives and requirements ensures a focused procurement process:

Measurable goals: Objectives should be measurable and aligned with the organisation’s broader energy and sustainability targets. For instance, reducing energy consumption by a certain percentage, increasing the use of renewable energy sources, or obtaining specific energy certifications.
Energy performance standards: Establishing minimum energy performance standards for products and services ensures that purchased items meet certain efficiency criteria. This can be achieved through benchmarking against industry standards or using energy labels.
Sustainable procurement policy: The energy officer and procurement team should collaborate to integrate energy considerations into the organisation’s overall sustainable procurement policy. This policy can guide decision-making and set a clear direction for future projects.

Other considerations for good team relationships

Use good project management

Treat procurement as a project or a work package within your project. Focus on results. Adopt a lean, structured approach for all medium- and high-risk projects. Involve procurement and other professional advisers from an early stage.
Ensure coordination between teams.

Create clear understandable documentation

Where a design uses technology or an approach new to the procurement team, make sure it is simply described along with any supporting information such as risks, lessons learned, and case studies to enable the procurement team to understand what you are trying to achieve and how.
Ensure a comprehensive set of information for each stage and tendering.
Lock down key aspects of the design or approach critical to the quality of the outcome before tendering at the right time with detailed information.

Define clear governance, organisation, and assurance

Be clear about roles and responsibilities including councillors, senior managers, and the project team. The project needs to be owned at senior level. There must be a dedicated project manager.
Carry out an independent review of major procurement projects at key points in the cycle.

Use robust risk management

Be clear and robust about the process of identifying, analysing, and controlling risks throughout the project. The procurement team needs to have a clear view of the potential risks of working with a technology, contractual arrangement, project timeline, and partners.

Understand the procurement cycle from the procurement team’s point of view and where your work needs to fit in

More than tendering, procurement is a cycle beginning with the identification of needs and a business case, through market engagement and contract management.

Understand the basics of contract management

Foundations are laid during the procurement process, including the specification and setting of service level agreements and KPIs. Determine approach, roles, and responsibilities and involve the contract manager at an early stage. Focus on delivery of benefits.

Work with the procurement team to understand strategic supplier relationships

Focus on relationships with strategic suppliers (value and risk / dependency) as well as controlling the contract.

Consider procurement by outcomes

Procuring by outcomes rather than services or products allows bidders to present their best solution rather than being constrained by previous assumptions.