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LGA Procurement: National Construction Conference
Working with the construction industry, councils are best positioned to lead place-based approaches to hit net zero targets, lead on local green growth and use procurement good practice to tackle spiralling inflation, resource scarcity, sustainability issues and a move to modern methods of construction and digitalisation. Now in its tenth year, our National Construction Conference is returning with two in-person events in:
Speakers from local government, the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS), the Cabinet Office and industry will look at how the combination of climate change, a cost of living crisis and global political instability continues to impact the UK construction industry and councils’ delivery of construction projects.
Inflation in commercial contracts – new Government Commercial Function insights paper
A rise in inflation, together with the associated supplier cost increases, may erode value for money if councils do not assess inflation risk and implement an agreed approach prior to commencing a procurement. The cost increases could escalate to the point where the contract becomes financially unviable, or the service quality is impacted.
The application of open book contract management (OBCM) is key to ensuring the right level of scrutiny of a supplier’s costs and margins. However, the implementation of OBCM can be resource intensive and may prove more costly if applied to the wrong type of contract or if the appropriate skills and capabilities are not available to provide ongoing support.
Please note, this insights paper is not Government policy, legal advice or formal guidance but it provides insights on the approaches that councils may wish to consider. Procurement rules also apply to contract amendments therefore councils are advised to commercial and legal advice prior to commencing any formal market engagement, procurement or negotiation.
Download the full report from our Local Government Procurement Knowledge Hub forum (registration required) which we will be revamping over the coming months to include these types of reports and guidance as well as discussion, issue resolution and a lot more.
Modern slavery self-assessment scorecard for local authorities
Funded by the Home Office, anti-slavery organisations Shiva Foundation, Mekong Club and Stop the Traffik have collaborated to launch a self-assessment scorecard for local authorities. The scorecard allows local authorities to easily assess their modern slavery risk across a number of key thematic areas and provide advice on how they can improve. An accompanying guide has also been created, providing tiered signposting to further resources, templates and frameworks allowing users to embed best practice across their work. The project was created as part of the Government’s package of measures to strengthen the Modern Slavery Act’s transparency legislation including, amongst other things, extending the reporting requirement to public bodies with a budget of £36 million or more.
Funded places available for local government commercial specialists to attend the government commercial assessment and development centre
The commercial assessment and development centre has been designed to provide a consistent means by which to benchmark the capability of senior commercial staff across the public sector. It is built upon a set of consistent standards which are designed to apply across the whole commercial function, so are relevant across different departments, categories and sectors. For organisations, the centre offers the opportunity to look at strengths and development areas across the whole team; for individuals it is an opportunity to receive in-depth feedback on your technical commercial skills as well as your judgement and leadership attributes.
Fully-funded opportunities are now available to local government commercial specialists to attend the centre in January 2023. This is a time-limited opportunity, so please email jack.kijowski@levellingup.gov.uk by Friday 9 December if you wish to take part or would like to receive more information.
UKCloud in receivership – advice for council customers
We are aware that a number of councils have purchased services, or were resold licensing agreements, from UKCloud. On 25 October, a winding-up order was made against UKCloud Limited and Virtual Infrastructure Group Limited.
If any councils have a live contract with UKCloud, including reseller licensing agreements, we ask that you contact the special managers at ukcloudcustomers@uk.ey.com
If councils have any form of data residing within the UKCloud estate, including where it is simply archive data or no longer used, they should make contact with the special managers to arrange suitable destruction of this data.
Business rates information letter – Autumn Statement measures and 2023 revaluation
On 18 November, the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities (DLUHC) issued a business rates information letter outlining the business rates measures in the Autumn Statement, which covered:
- freezing the business rates multiplier at its 2022/23 level
- 2023/24 reliefs for retail, hospitality and leisure (RHL)
- supporting small business (SSB)
- transitional reliefs
DLUHC will carry out a new burdens assessment for additional administration and IT costs associated with these measures and will shortly publish guidance for local authorities on the 2023/24 RHL and SSB relief schemes. DLUHC has also published the summary of responses and Government response to the Transitional Relief consultation.
Can we address the cost of living and climate crisis at the same time? (Social Value Portal webinar)
Tuesday 29 November, 2.00pm–3.00pm | Online
Delivering sustainability through responsible procurement (East of England Local Government Association (EELGA) webinar)
Wednesday 30 November, 10.00am–11.00am | Microsoft Teams
The Sourcing Playbook – webinar series
Every Tuesday lunchtime from 12.30pm to 2.00pm, 6 November–6 December
Buying services for schools – free Department for Education (DfE) webinars
Multiple online sessions will run throughout November and December
Regional retrofit action planning
Tuesday 6 December, 10.00am–11.30am | Zoom
Net Zero Go (local energy project) procurement innovator workshop
Thursday 8 December, 10.00am–11.30am | Microsoft Teams
Greenhouse gas accounting – including a focus on waste (LGA webinar)
Tuesday 17 January, 10.00am–11.30am | Zoom
Decarbonising transport (LGA webinar)
Tuesday 24 January 2023, 10.00am–11.30am | Zoom
LGA National Construction Conference (London)
Thursday 2 February 2023, 9.15am–3.30pm | 18 Smith Square, London SW1P 3HZ
LGA National Construction Conference (Leeds)
Tuesday 7 March 2023, 9.15am–3.30pm | Horizon Leeds, 2 Brewery Wharf, Kendall Street, Leeds LS10 1JR
Procurement Reform Conference (London)
Wednesday 1 March 2023, 8.30am–4.00pm | Queen Elizabeth II Centre, Broad Sanctuary, London SW1P 3EE
Procurement Reform Conference (Manchester)
Tuesday 14 March 2023, 8.30am–4.00pm | Mercure Manchester Piccadilly Hotel, Portland Street, Manchester M1 4PH
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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