Wirral Council Regeneration Sourcing Strategy

Learn how Wirral Council took a strategic approach to market management and delivering numerous procurements at pace.

1. What problem was the council / project running into?

The Council had been successful in bidding for significant funding from the Levelling Up Fund, and had an ambitious vision for the future, but to deliver this work needed to procure a wide range of works and services. There was not a clear plan for how to do this, and the Council did not have enough time to be proactive in setting up procurement approaches. Instead the Council was having to work reactively, using direct awards from frameworks, which risked failing to achieve value for money, or not appointing the most appropriate supplier. Procurements had resulted in very few or no bids.

2. Why was it running into these problems?

The Council was starting a new programme of regeneration work and did not have the capacity to develop a procurement strategy that would consider the needs of the Council and set out decision making pathways.The Council did not have time to take a considered view of the market and understand the different routes to access suppliers.

3. What specific tools, frameworks, concepts and actions did they use to overcome these issues?

A market health assessment (in line with guidance– was undertaken to better understand the key difficulties in each of the markets the Council was procuring in. A workshop was undertaken to understand the key procurement priorities for the Council. The workshop included stakeholders for the regeneration team and from the corporate procurement function to ensure a shared understanding could be built.This work was pulled together into a procurement strategy, which included how route to market would be determined, and the roles and responsibilities of different teams in the procurement process.

4. What was the result of them implementing these actions?

As a result of these actions the Council now has a clear way forward on delivering the procurement activity required to support their regeneration programme.