Nearly £60 million has been injected into the local economy as a result of a new Procurement Strategy launched by Nottingham City Council last year.

The new Strategy aims to ensure that the Council is getting value for money when purchasing goods and services while at the same time using its buying power to improve the local economy and help create local jobs.

So far in 2014/15, 109 contracts to the value of £98.8 million have been placed through the strategy, with 59% of them awarded to local Nottingham City based suppliers, meaning the local economy has been boosted by £59.3 million.

The Strategy has also led to the creation of 210 new entry level jobs for citizens and the creation of one dedicated procurement function for Nottingham City Council

A key aspect of the Strategy is about delivering economic, social and environmental benefits. These are now considered as part of the commissioning and procurement process to ensure all opportunities maximised to improve the wellbeing of citizens.

A recent independent review of the Council’s processes has shown that it is complying with procurement regulations and ensuring social value is considered in procurement.

Councillor Nick McDonald, the City Council’s Portfolio Holder for Jobs and Growth, said: “When we launched the new Strategy, we made clear that our key aims were to use procurement to support our local economy, to create jobs and to deliver value for money for our tax payers.  A year on, it’s clear that the strategy is delivering exactly those things, which is great news.”

The City Council recently scooped a national award at GO Procurement Awards which celebrate innovation in procurement. The award was particularly for the Council’s approach to commissioning and procuring services for the local Deaf community. It recognised the significant work undertaken and challenges faced in involving citizens from the local Deaf community throughout the process to deliver better services to meet their needs.

The implementation of the strategy will continue at pace throughout 2015-17. There will be new opportunities for local suppliers with the Council continuing to further develop its procurement processes to continue to deliver best value, support innovation, stimulate growth and ensure maximum benefits to the citizens of Nottingham.

Plans for 2015-16 include:

  • Piloting the levy for funding the Employer Hub
  • Developing and implementing a business charter that will form part of our local agreement with suppliers
  • Developing market development to support local businesses to tender for services
  • Providing open and concise information on our procurement plans
  • Implementation of the new national procurement regulations

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