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Welcome to the merged National Advisory Group (NAG) and SOPO (Society of Procurement Officers in Local Government) e-bulletin. Feel free to circulate this email to your colleagues and suggest that they sign up to receive it themselves. This bulletin is delivered through our corporate communications service through which you can create or manage your subscriptions and read previous editions of this bulletin.
Social Housing Decarbonisation Fund: Wave 2
The Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) announced details of Wave 2 of the Social Housing Decarbonisation Fund (SHDF) that will help to upgrade the social housing stock currently below Energy Performance Certificate (EPC) C up to that standard. It will support the installation of energy performance measures in social homes in England, and help deliver warm, energy-efficient homes, reduce carbon emissions, tackle fuel poverty, support green jobs, develop the retrofit sector and improve the comfort, health and well-being of social housing tenants. Up to £700 million will be made available in the first tranche of Wave 2. SHDF allows registered providers of social housing, including private and council providers, to bid for funding to improve the energy performance of socially rented homes.
If you have any enquiries about SHDF Wave 2, please email SHDF.enquiries@beis.gov.uk
Contract Management Pioneer Programme – investing in commercial capability across local government
Crown Commercial Service (CCS) are joining the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities (DLUHC), the LGA, and the Cabinet Office, to boost commercial capability across local government through a new contract management training programme. Over the next 12 months almost 200 local government officers who are required to manage contracts as part of their duties will complete the Contract Management Pioneer Programme. The training programme supports the Government’s agenda to build back better by ensuring that contracting authorities are able to effectively manage the key stages of commercial delivery.
If you are keen for your organisation to participate, please email an expression of interest to productivity@local.gov.uk and jack.kijowski@levellingup.gov.uk
Crown Commercial Service's new 'social value enabled' facilities management framework
Crown Commercial Service (CCS) has awarded 44 suppliers places on its major, new Facilities Management and Workplace Services Framework – supporting the principles of the Government’s 'Sourcing Playbook' by heavily weighting ‘quality’ in its contract award criteria, rather than lowest cost. Suppliers are required to file quarterly returns showing how they are adhering to baseline requirements for social value activities including modern slavery, carbon net zero, SMEs, under-represented groups, apprenticeships, and prompt payment.
This replaces CCS’s Facilities Management Marketplace agreement, which delivered commercial benefits, including savings, of around 10 per cent for public sector customers procuring standard facilities management services.
Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) seeking views on possible changes to public sector food and catering policy
This consultation (deadline 4 September) is expected to be of interest to public sector contracting authorities, food business operators, and local authorities. Defra would like to:
- hear your views on the proposed changes to public sector food and catering policy, as laid out in the consultation document
- know whether you think that the proposed policy changes are feasible in practice and will achieve our vision for public sector food and catering.
The LGA Procurement team will host a series of webinars in July to supplement our improvement offer to councils and coincide with the launch of our new suite of e-learning tools and online guidance focusing on increasing cyber resilience in local government supply chains. Please pass on details of the following events to relevant colleagues in your own teams, energy managers and councillors; and share the 21 July cyber resilience webinar with your IT and cyber teams.
Monday 18 July, 2.00pm–3.30pm
We will be hosting two webinars on cyber resilience. This first webinar will introduce procurement officers and commercial teams to the subject, providing them with a foundational understanding of potential cyber risks in local government supply chains. It will walk delegates through the procurement process, and into managing the contract, to:
- identify cyber security risks within your supply chains and third-party products and services
- identify what needs to be protected and why
- embed cyber security within procurement processes and supply chains
- develop mitigation strategies to protect local government organisations from cyber risks inherent in supply chains and prepare for cyber attacks when they occur.
Tuesday 19 July, 2.00pm–3.00pm
A combination of high energy prices and concerns about where the UK’s energy is sourced from is prompting many councils to explore Power Purchase Agreements (PPA) as a means of buying electricity from renewable generators. This webinar will introduce PPAs and examine:
- their benefits and risks
- the different types of PPA on offer
- which is best suited for your council.
Wednesday 20 July, 2.00pm–4.00pm
The webinar is intended for councillors and will focus on:
- what social value is, its principles, and how these relate to new regulations set out in the National Procurement Policy Statement (NPPS) and the upcoming changes to public procurement in the Government’s Procurement Bill.
- what is important to you locally and how you can achieve maximum outputs in addition to the core requirements set out in a contract
- how you can use the tools to achieve local, socio-economic and environmental benefits
This webinar is intended to be a practical session taking you through:
- how councils can develop and implement social value statements and action plans
- the Social Value Maturity Index
- how councils can continue to measure and improve on the outcomes you’re looking to achieve.
Please share details of this webinar with your member services team and relevant councillors.
Thursday 21 July, 2.00pm– 3.30pm
Working with PUBLIC and Daintta, we have developed a suite of e-learning modules and online guidance – based on National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) principles and guidelines – to increase awareness of cyber security and increase cyber resilience across local government supply chains. This second webinar, for IT and cyber security specialists with a broad understanding of cyber security, will include a panel discussion with local government sector colleagues and representatives from the National Cyber Security Centre.
Please share details of this webinar with your IT teams and cyber security specialists.
Wednesday 22 June, 3.00pm–6.30pm | Online, and at 30 Crown Place, Earl Street, London EC2A 4ES
The Procurement Lawyers Association is delighted to provide further details on the Procurement Bill, which will take place at the offices of Pinsent Masons in London. The event will also be broadcast online for those unable to attend in person. There will be an opportunity to ask questions from the floor after each presentation. Colleagues from the Cabinet Office will also be joining us for the event, which will be followed by a drinks reception.
To register for this event please email PLAevents@pinsentmasons.com
Thursday 23 June, 2.00pm–3.00pm | Online
Join the Social Value Portal for this walkthrough of all the new updates to the National Themes, Outcomes and Measures (TOMs).
Thursday 23–Friday 24 June | The Hayes Conference Centre, Hayes Lane, Swanwick, Alfreton, Derbyshire DE55 1AU
Organised by commissioners for commissioners, the Children's Commissioning Conference is the event to share best practice from across commissioning. This event will include over 30 workshops focused on informing and improving commissioning offering the opportunity to learn from commissioning colleagues and children’s services experts.
Chartered Institute of Public Finance and Accountancy (CIPFA) Special Summit – What next for public sector contracts? (Leeds or London)
Thursday 30 June, 10.00am–3.45pm | Novotel Leeds Hotel, 4 Whitehall Quay, Leeds LS1 4HR
Tuesday 5 July, 10.00am–3.45pm | RSM Farringdon, 25 Farringdon Street, London EC4A 4AB
Managing commercial arrangements with suppliers is critical to the success of public bodies and is a key driver in creating value for money from the public purse, improving public services and mitigating risk. The Chartered Institute of Public Finance and Accountancy's (CIPFA's) Procurement and Commissioning Network has teamed up to support organisations and practitioners towards achieving the best value from contracts and help drive future efficiency savings. These in-person summits will equip you with commercial and practical skills to reduce costs, improve outcomes and achieve better value for money.
Tuesday 12 July, 9.30am–3.45pm | Online
- Are you overwhelmed when procuring construction projects?
- Would you benefit from better understanding of terminology and procurement methods?
- Are your contracts suffering from the impact of inflation?
The webinar will support heads of procurement and finance, procurement lawyers, project managers, auditors, and contract managers, who support the procurement, tendering and delivery of construction projects.
Tuesday 19 July, 10.00am-12.00pm | Online
This roundtable has been organised for officers working in economic growth and development – to share insights into how they are adapting their digital skills strategies to create a skills pipeline amongst the local population to meet the increasing demand from employers for more specialised digital skills. To book a place please complete the registration form
Monday 18–Thursday 21 July | Online
Essex County Council will hold its second social value festival aimed at organisations, of any size, who are wishing to know more about social value. All sessions will be online and free of charge. This year’s event will offer practical advice on how to approach social value and climate matters and provide many examples that you can adopt – or use to inspire your own ideas. Attendees will have the opportunity to speak to experts about social value and climate.
The LGA Procurement team manages several LGA webpages dedicated to your needs. Please email guy.head@local.gov.uk if you would like any information added to our webpages:
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