GO Awards – celebrating public procurement excellence

Many local authorities were acknowledged at the 20th GO Awards, celebrating public procurement excellence, last night in Solihull. There were several excellent case studies from across the public sector and across the UK with local authority procurement teams featuring highly in many of the finalist submissions. Well done to all those local authorities who were finalists in the awards and many congratulations to the following winners and highly commended local authorities: 

• Kirklees Council for the Social Value Award (local government)
• Liverpool City Council in partnership with others for the Social Value Award (private sector) 
• London Luton Airport for the Social Value Award (other organisations) 
• West Sussex County Council, highly commended for the Contract and Supplier Management Award
• Orbis Procurement, highly commended for the Collaborative Procurement Award
• North East Procurement Organisation for the Digital Service Delivery Award
• London Borough of Haringey and Oxford City Council both got a special mention in the Procurement Delivery Award
• Terry Gittins, London Luton Airport received the overall Individual of the Year Award
• London Luton Airport for the Team of the Year Award
• London Luton Airport were the overall winner of the excellence award across all categories.

Contract Management Capability Programme (CMCP) – four years of progress and benefits realisation

Contract management continues to be a high priority area across the public sector. The Contract Management Capability Programme (CMCP) was launched in central Government in 2018 to provide training and development on contract management. A handful of councils were invited to pilot the process and we received great feedback from them. Since then, councils have been able to access the online foundation stage of the training through the Government Commercial College and following a pilot programme are now able to access the full accredited training at practitioner level. More than 400 council officers have completed or in the process of completing this practitioner training. Keep checking this bulletin for more details of how to apply soon. 

Swimming Pool Support Fund 

Sport England has confirmed that the Government has granted conditional approval for the delivery of the revenue allocation of the Swimming Pool Support Fund. Sport England is working to finalise the appointment of a grant administrator to launch the fund at the end of June. More than £20 million is available in revenue grants to support facilities with swimming pools with increased cost pressures leaving them most vulnerable to closure or service reduction.

Connected Places research project 

The Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT) is looking to partner with a group of councils to participate in a Connected Places (also known as Smart Cities) research project. DSIT recently published a Secure Connected Places Playbook which provides practical and accessible cyber security advice for councils looking to undertake connected places projects – from smart traffic management to environmental monitoring. Between July and October 2023, DSIT would like to test the Playbook with a larger group of councils, of any level, size or connected places maturity, to ensure it meets the practical needs of councils across the UK.

Each participating council will receive a £5,000 stipend and access to expert cyber security consultants who will help participants improve the cyber security of their connected places projects. They will also help shape the support that the Government provides on connected places.  

Please complete the Connected Places research project application form if you are interested in applying to participate in the project. Councils can sign up to attend DSIT's Connected Places information session on Thursday 8 June, 11.00am–12.00pm.

LGA Annual Conference and Exhibition 2023
Tuesday 4–Thursday 6 July | Bournemouth International Centre, Exeter Road, Bournemouth BH2 5BH