PfH shortlisted for Housing Heroes Awards 2009.

PfH has been shortlisted for the Housing Heroes Awards 2009 in the Procurement Team of the Year category for championing the cause of SMEs.

PfH is leading the way with its SME integration strategies: 61% of the consortium's turnover goes through SMEs and over 53% of its suppliers are small and medium sized independent businesses - compared with Alistair Darling's announced pledge to help SMEs win 30% of public sector contracts over the next five years. PfH's inclusive practices in relation to SME organisations stand it apart from other consortia operations within the sector; looking as they do at innovative means of achieving efficiency savings whilst supporting smaller ‘local' businesses and remaining within the boundaries of EU Procurement Regulations.

UNIMER (United Merchants) was appointed as one of the merchants on its Materials for Maintenance and Capital Works framework contract.  A collective of 1200 smaller, independent builders' merchants, UNIMER is spread across the whole of the UK.

The agreement, the first consortium to consortium framework agreement in the social housing sector, enables any of PfH's 650+ social housing members to use local, smaller merchants; allowing them to take advantage of nationally negotiated terms, still support their local (usually SME) merchant and not fall foul of EU procurement regulations.

The inclusion of UNIMER has opened up hundreds of millions of pounds worth of annual business opportunities to thousands of SME companies across the UK and helped PfH's members move forward with their social sustainability and efficiency delivery strategies.

The awards ceremony takes place on 10th June 2009 at the London Hilton Hotel on Park Lane.