A Huge Thanks to Ann Bentley
On Wednesday 28th September our latest Procurement Group meeting took place. During the meeting, Ann Bentley announced her retirement from RLB at the end of October. She has been an incredible chair, driving transformation in value-based procurement and an excellent role model for our industry.
“Having made the announcement at Constructing Excellence Procurement Group meeting – I thought I should follow up with an e-mail. After 33 years at RLB and over 40 in the construction industry I will be retiring from RLB at the end of October.
It has been a privilege and a pleasure working with everyone at Constructing Excellence. To see the collective level of commitment to the betterment of the construction industry is something to behold.
Though much has changed in 40 years, the industry is just as exciting, dynamic and interesting as it was the day I joined. As I hand over to future generations I can see that industry that has given me such a fabulous career is in good hands. I wish you every success as you push it further ahead.”
Download a copy of Ann’s slides
New Chair Rebecca Rees
We are delighted that Rebecca Rees has taken over as chair of the Procurement Group.
Rebecca is a partner and Head of Public Procurement at the international law firm, Trowers & Hamlins, and is a leading national expert in public procurement law, consistently ranked as among the world’s leading government contracts lawyers (Who’s Who Legal and Chambers and Partners).
Key Points From the Meeting
It is evident that procurement should be an enabler across all areas of the built environment sector and should not present financial barriers, particularly within the public sector.
To date, there has been a focus on how procurement should promote and secure value. Rebecca has suggested that the group continue with this focus under the banner of “Procuring for Value” but should begin to widen this aim to include the public procurement process and other issues facing the built environment sector. The procurement group endeavours to address such challenges through the promotion of value-led procurement.
Challenges to Procurement
- Building safety
- Net zero
- Lack of skills necessary to promote innovation
- Digitisation
- Housing crisis
- Volatile post-Brexit and post-Covid supply-chain
There is currently limited feedback from the Built Environment Sector to identify what ‘good’ procurement practice looks like. This is a key area that the Constructing Excellence Procurement Group, and wider members, hope to coalesce focus on to further inform good practice within procurement.
Download a copy of Rebecca’s Slides
Action Points and Areas for Further Discussion
- How does procurement impact employment?
- Consideration needs to be given to how the Value Toolkit influences procurement practise and the importance of the development of new and efficient interfaces.
- Have members experienced procurement as an enabler and how does this chime with the information given in the Construction Playbook?
- How do we procure innovation, new tech, new ways of working, etc.?
- Development of case studies where clients and supply-chain have achieved good ‘value’ over other considerations.
Download the full meeting notes
Get Involved!
The Constructing Excellence Procurement Group brings together a highly knowledgeable group of our members who are committed to delivering better procurement. Please get in touch if you want to get involved.
