Speaker Paul Clayton

(E)fficient Procurement

Paul Clayton, Head of Business Development at ProcServe will be delivering a sub-plenary session on (E)fficient Procurement at the PfH Annual Conference Exhibition 2010 entitled “More for less”.  The event will be taking place at Manchester Central on 7th October 2010.

Paul joined ProcServe in 2006 as part of the founding team for the initial setup and company formation and now oversees all aspects of ProcServe's business development and channel management.  PfH caught up with Paul ahead of the Conference to find out more about what he will be covering at the event.  In the current climate, Paul recognises there is greater pressure on Registered Providers to deliver more with less.  This agenda presents complex challenges for social housing procurement.  Significant tensions are emerging between cost reductive efficiency gains, the ability to achieve long-term best value and the need to deliver savings - at a time when social landlords are committed to the creation of genuinely sustainable communities.

Making cuts that result in poorer quality services and outcomes for tenants will fail to deliver value for money.  Any change to services should result in a net improvement in outcomes for tenants.  Ultimately, efficiency saving is not about cutting front-line services, but about driving efficiencies throughout the back office. Enabling better buying, reducing paper bureaucracy and greater collaboration all create savings.  An investment in e-procurement provides an effective means to cut costs both in the short-term, by slowing down or redirecting spend, and in the long-term, by improving compliance to strategic sourcing agreements. 

In response to growing Member demand, PfH in partnership with ProcServe has created a dedicated eProcurement Marketplace, an electronic trading portal where Members can access the consortium’s framework agreements. The solution will help Members to streamline their procurement processes and gain more visibility, control and compliance over spending.  The PfH eProcurement Marketplace will enable social housing providers to reinvest more resources in front-line services and improve neighbourhoods.  Paul, however, cautions, “Pivotal to ensuring that these benefits are achieved is the adoption of a corporate culture which embraces change.  Providers need to be committed to the process to ensure the organisation can deliver value for money.”

Paul highlights ProcServe’s recent work with Gwalia Housing Association in Wales as an example of how commitment to change can achieve more for less: “Our work with Gwalia has delivered significant savings for the association both in terms of the prices paid for goods and services and in resource costs associated with purchasing and accounts payable. Finance staff have reduced process timing by 71% and there has been a 42% reduction in the time spent sourcing and ordering goods and services.”

To find out more about how your organisation can adopt best practice e-procurement, book your place at the PfH Conference today. 

Kindly sponsored by Lanway

PfH would like to thank Lanway who are kind sponsors of the sub-plenary session (E)fficient Procurement. 

The session will examine how e-procurement is helping the social housing sector to gain visibility, control and compliance over spending.

Download the full Conference agenda here.