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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.
German federal government places Gazprom Germania into long term administration
Germany will put Gazprom Germania under long-term administration and back it with a loan of around €10 billion euros to help bolster the security of Europe's energy supplies. The move will sustain the government's influence over this part of the critical energy infrastructure and prevent energy security from being jeopardised. The energy trading, storage and transmission business will be renamed Securing Energy for Europe GmbH, the German government said in a statement. Gazprom Germania is the parent company of the UK arm Gazprom Marketing & Trading which provides energy to the public sector including many councils, schools and the National Health Service. Changes in the administration of Gazprom Germania and the structure of Gazprom UK Marketing and Trading Limited will provide further assurances that conditions have significantly changed since March 2022 and that money is not flowing back to the Russian Federation.
Many councils, including Portsmouth and Eden District Council, have been evaluating their decision with regards to terminating Gazprom UK contracts but are now looking to continue with them. As ever, we strongly advise you to speak with your own legal teams before making any decisions on these matters.
Government to make it simpler for businesses to apply new product safety markings and reminder to move to new customs IT platform
The Government has announced a range of changes to make it simpler for businesses to apply new product conformity markings for most products placed on the market in England, Scotland and Wales. The UK Conformity Assessed (UKCA) mark is a mandatory mark on certain products, for example mobile phones, to indicate that they conform to Great Britain legislation. Businesses have until 1 January 2023 to start using UKCA marking which replaces the Conformitè Europëenne (CE).
Microsoft warns an increase in supply chain cyber attacks is likely
The head of Microsoft Security Response Centre has warned that the increasing reliance on third party software means that supply chain cyber attacks are likely to grow over time – as seen in the SolarWinds, Kaseya and Log4j attacks. As organisations across the world rely more on third-party and open-source software, cyber criminals benefit, as they can find unpatched vulnerabilities and exploit them.
The National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) has released guidance for organisations to help establish effective control of supply chains, based on twelve principles. In July, we are due to launch our own cyber security resilience toolkit of e-learning modules and online guidance, based on the NCSC principles. Please sign up to attend our accompanying 'Embedding cyber resilience into local government supply chains' webinar which will introduce you to the learning material and take you through the new suite of tools.
NHS England Provider Selection Regime webinars
A series of webinars are currently being planned by NHS England, aimed at organisations who will have to comply with the Provider Selection Regime (PSR), including councils. There will be webinars giving a high-level overview of the PSR (which will be suitable for senior leaders) and webinars which give more detail on how to follow the Regime (suitable for those in commissioning/procurement roles). The dates for the webinars have not yet been confirmed, however we are expecting them to be in the latter half of 2022. To register interest in the webinars please submit an expression of interest
We encourage those attending the LGA Annual Conference in Harrogate next week (28–30 June) to join us at our Innovation Zone session on eProcurement. Local authorities use a range of technologies and tools for market research, procurement, contract management and business intelligence. NEPO and 12 local authorities are embarking on a major digital transformation journey to bring these elements together under one solution, underpinned by a golden thread of data. This presentation will explore how this transformation is taking place. Working with key partners Accenture and AWS, NEPO has designed and developed an entirely new procurement solution that seeks to increase visibility, access, collaboration and problem solving, helping to remove operational waste for local authority procurement professionals as well as their suppliers.
Access the full LGA Annual Conference programme
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.
Monday 18 July, 2.00pm–3.30pm | Online
The LGA is developing a suite of e-learning modules and web-based guidance, based on the National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) principles and guidelines to increase awareness and cyber resilience throughout your supply chains.
The LGA will be hosting two webinars – the first will be introducing procurement officers and commercial teams to provide a foundational understanding of what the potential cyber risks in local government supply chains, taking the delegate through the procurement process and into managing the contract to:
- identify the 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.
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.
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
Tuesday 19 July, 2.00pm–3.00pm | Online (Microsoft Teams)
A combination of high energy prices and concerns of where the UK’s energy is sourced from many councils are exploring Power Purchase Agreements (PPA) as a means of buying electricity from renewable generators. This webinar introduces the benefits, risks, and features of power purchase agreements, and takes you through the different types on offer and which is best suited to your council. The event includes a case study from the City of London who have recently has signed a PPA with Voltalia for a 49MW solar farm in Dorset which will allow the authority to benefit from renewable energy from the new-build 95,000 panel solar farm for 15 years.
Wednesday 20 July, 2.00pm–4.00pm | Online (Microsoft Teams)
The webinar is intended for Councillors and will focus on;
- What is social value, it’s principles and how these relate to the new regulations as set out in the National Procurement Policy Statement (NPPS) and the upcoming changes to public procurement in the Government’s new Bill.
- What’s important to you locally and how you can achieve the maximum outputs in addition to the core requirements set out in a contract.
- How you can use the tools to achieve these local, socio-economic and environmental benefits
The session is intended to be a practical session taking you through how your councils would develop and implement Social Value statements and action plans, explain the Social Value Maturity Index and how your council can continue to measure and improve on the outcomes you’re looking to achieve.
Please pass this on to your member services teams and councillors in your local authorities.
Thursday 21 July, 2.00pm–3.30pm | Online (Microsoft Teams)
This is the second of the two webinars and is intended for IT and Cyber Security specialists with a broader understanding of cyber security and will include a panel discussion with local government sector colleagues and representatives from the National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC).
Please pass this on to your IT Teams and cyber specialists in your local authorities.
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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