We’ve been speaking exclusively with not-for-profit organisation South East Consortium – a firm who provide flexible, compliant procurement solutions of the highest quality…

Q. South East Consortium (SEC) are a non-for-profit organisation delivering procurement solutions for public sector organisations across the South East. What was the drive behind the formation of the SEC back in 2005?

SEC is a traditional central purchasing body owned by its Members.  Formed by a group of Housing Associations in South East England the consortia was established to be a ‘strategic buying club’ to support the housing sector. SEC was designed to improve economies of scale and act as a centralised procurement team for Members.  SEC still differentiates itself from the commercial competition today as we remain focused on intelligent frameworks for housing providers.  SEC can assist customers with all stages of the procurement cycle, provide technical training and do its bit for the sector it loves.

Q. How does the fact you’re a not for profit organisation help those you’re currently working with? Does this help achieve greater value for money? [emaillocker id=”71749″]

Our structure enables us to be completely customer focused. We feel the frameworks we’ve designed allow organisations to procure contractors and consultants at competitive market rates. Our customers can benefit from the consortium buying power and saving time and money regarding procurement processes.  In addition we also invest in the sector – for example this year we are funding a training programme of over 600 courses for Housing Association staff from our memberships organisations.

Q. How do you measure social value and the added impact and benefits the contractors are delivering for the client?

With the nature of use of our frameworks historically, many of our supplier partners have delivered a whole host of social value initiatives from apprenticeships, community projects and charity work. This year we will be launching a platform to capture this and supplement the work our suppliers are doing with our own investments back into the sector.

q. There’s always an argument around frameworks vs direct procurement – do you think there is space for both in the public sector, or do you feel the benefits of frameworks always out-weigh direct?

There is no one size all solution so yes direct award and framework tenders both have a role to play.  All of our frameworks are designed by and for our Members so our models provide options and are built on detail.  We always work with our customers to evaluate model suitability for their needs and progress only if it is right for all parties. We are focused on providing a good service not necessarily securing a procurement contract

Q. You’ve experienced significant growth in membership in recent years – do you see this trend continuing especially with the Government pushing the public sector to build, build, build?

The focus to build, build, build has already accelerated the interest in our frameworks for call off competitions including new guest users we have not engaged with before. Our frameworks are open to all public purchasing bodies. Yes, our membership base is growing and continues to do so. We hope this is driven by the benefit we add to these buying organisations. Our personalised level of service means we are often working in partnership with our members, as an extension of their own teams, but equally in supporting as a collective voice to drive sector improvement.

Q. How have you been able to help you members – both client side and supply chain – in the recent Covid-19 pandemic?

The recent climate has tested the sector and we have seen many suppliers using the furlough scheme early in the pandemic. However we have been impressed with the nature of conversations and support, a partnership ethos if you like, embedded across our clients and suppliers to get through this time, retain essential services and now as times move forward, resume more traditional services as effectively and safely as possible. I am proud to say that across Housing and the Construction sector on the whole, the majority have shown resilience and are bouncing back stronger.

Q. There is now a much bigger focus on areas like social value, offsite manufacturing, carbon neutrality etc. Is this changing the way you’re procuring, and is it changing the needs of your clients already?

Public sector purchasing needs are changing. We always ensure that we develop frameworks that work and that are suitable for the client’s needs. This means we are working with affiliates and strategic work groups on various industry “hot topics” to makes sure we are well placed with a solution and offering to our members challenges. An example on this is a project we started a year ago on supporting local authorities in their zero carbon commitments. We have drafted a framework and have consulted with the buying and supplying sector and this will go to procurement in the next few months. Since its conception government has announced their “Green Recovery Package” with fuller detail on public sector support defined later this year. We feel our forward movement on this will mean we should have a framework available for public sector to procure compliant services in support of any grants they may get to achieve their Net Zero Carbon Goals.

Q. You’ve recently partnered with Built Environment Networking for a number of online events – who’re you looking to connect with and engage with?

We took the decision to partner specific and topical events related to our business and sector support goals. Built Environment Network is fantastic for its diverse range of attendees and its industry topical content and panel discussions. We are proud to be part of that and as such welcome conversations with anyone in the sector whether that’s public sector procurement or asset management individuals or great suppliers who are interested in being on our frameworks.

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