Conference Agenda

09:30 Plenary Session

Chair: Dr. Andrew Larner, Managing Director: Improvement and Efficiency South East

John Collington, Head of Procurement: Efficiency and Reform Group

John Kirkpatrick, Director of Studies: Audit Commission

Michael Hawdon, Public Procurement Partner: PwC

11:00 Refreshments and networking, followed by choice of work sessions

11:30 A1 Exploiting the Supply Chain, Beyond Cost Reduction

The workshop sets out to address:
- How can public sector bodies achieve greater value from the supply chain?
- Is cost reduction the only requirement?
- Can suppliers and buyers create commercial arrangements that benefit from mutual success?
- How to contract on success based fees

Michael Hawdon, Public Procurement Partner: PwC

11:30 A2 Legal Compliance Issues

New service delivery models are a key response to the public expenditure crisis. Social Enterprise is the government's solution, but other models are now on the agenda or back in vogue, such as the Management Buy-out , the so-called "EasyCouncil" structure or the "John Lewis model". This session looks at the legal and procurement issues arising from the move to such new models and recent moves in Europe to free public sector collaboration from the procurement burden.

But public procurement is now a risky environment and the growth of challenge threatens to destabilise the efficiencies procurement has the potential to deliver. The session will examine the growth of challenge and what to do to stay out of court!

Michael Mousdale, Partner: Trowers & Hamlins

11:30 A3 Meeting Local Need While Delivering Economies of Scale

Meeting local need while delivering economies of scale through national approaches to procurement are two clear priorities for government. The home access programme illustrates how a card-based solution maximized choice for the individual, supported the supply chain, and delivered savings to the taxpayer. This case study will share insight into our approach and how we:
• Ensured the secure disbursement of grants for home computer equipment which helped disadvantaged families gain access to computers and the internet
• Distributed over 250,000 grants across the UK through local authority collaboration
• Gained valuable management information on redemption to support transparency, audit and compliance of usage
• Utilised pioneering control mechanisms to provide security and accountability
• Structured an innovative approach to negotiating and managing the supply chain

Niel McLean, Executive Director, Schools and Families: Becta

Session sponsored by: Barclaycard

11:30 A4 Driving Energy Efficiency

It is crucial to understand that it is data and the correct tools to analyse data effectively that drive energy efficiency. This produces the intelligence needed to establish, implement and monitor the most appropriate energy reduction and behavior change strategies.
This session will look at understanding benchmarking, data and energy.

Justin Vroone, Head of Sales: IMServ

12:30 Lunch and networking, followed by choice of work sessions

13:30 B1 The Impact of Fleet on Your Organisation: Cost, Choice, Responsibility

This session will look at the impact of fleet within organisations and will focus on controlling costs while also considering the options available; we will discuss the environment and the increasing importance of a ‘green fleet’, look at how you can manage the cost of operating a ‘grey fleet’, how the Whole Life Cost approach can help guide you through the vehicle selection process and how we have helped one of our customers to generate some significant savings.

Marcus Puddy, Head of Consultancy Services: Lex Autolease

13:30 B2 Delivering Savings - What can you do if there's too much month left at the end of the money?

The pressure is on. Delivering savings is no longer one of a number of initiatives fighting for time and attention. It has risen to the top of all public sector bodies’ priorities. But what do you do when you’ve picked all of the low-hanging fruit and there’s still ‘too much month left at the end of the money’? This presentation will show you how you can more effectively leverage what you spend on goods and services to deliver cash savings, measure progress and manage compliance.

Luke Spikes, CEO: Spikes Cavell

13:30 B3 How Do You Ensure You Select the 'A' Team?

This case study examines how Oxford Brookes University worked with Oxfordshire County Council to select a supplier who demonstrated not only technical know how, but who had the calibre of staff who could work collaboratively alongside council members. This exercise gave valuable insights as to how the supplier and Oxfordshire County Council would work together in jointly tackling future challenges.

Grant Cawte, Contract Development Manager: Oxfordshire County Council

Graham Martin, Assistant Head of Transport: Atkins Plc

Barbara Hocking, Deputy Programme Director: Oxford Brookes University Business School

13:30 B4 Green AND Lean (or Cutting Costs, Cutting Carbon)

Can your procurement strategy serve two agendas – sustainability and savings? “Green” sourcing opportunities that can get carbon footprint AND spending down are growing all the time. This seminar comes from two leading sources of knowledge- of processes, tools and technologies for winning savings; and of categories with green opportunities.

Paul Seddon, Consultant: Expense Reduction Analysts

Ronald Duncan, Chairman: @UK PLC

Richard Barraclough, Head of Spend Analysis: @UK PLC

14:30 Refreshments and networking, followed by choice of work sessions

15:00 C1 Getting More Out of Your Travel Budget

Travel is one of the key areas for savings being targeted by Efficiency and Reform Group. In this work session, through case studies and practical tips hear how you can achieve efficient travel procurement practice and meet your savings and sustainability goals.

Nigel Turner, Director of Programme Management, UK & Ireland: Carlson Wagonlit Travel

Matthew Griffin, Head of Business Services: Department for Work and Pensions

15:00 C2 Harnessing e-Commerce Technology to Deliver Savings

What are the emerging e-Commerce technologies that could step-change the delivery of savings and efficiencies? Can the public sector afford them or can they not afford to be without them? Is there a case for ‘invest to save’ and can the financial risk be entirely removed?

Jeff Dandridge, Group CEO: Valueworks

Iain Walsh, Group Director: Valueworks

15:00 C3 Managing Risk in the Supply Chain

It might be a very attractive proposition to award supply of a product or service to a single supplier in order to drive down costs. But what would happen if the supplier goes out of business or is subject to a takeover? Is dual sourcing an option? How can you be sure that the delivery will not be sub-contracted and you end up dealing with a company you don’t know?
This session will help identify where the risks are and how to eliminate or minimise them accordingly.

Peter Livesley, Government Sector Leader: Dun & Bradstreet