Crown Commercial Services raise the bar for suppliers

The challenge

Every successful project starts with a solid plan and procurement is an integral part of its effective execution. However, as all councils know, procurement can be a minefield for the project manager, fraught with unforeseen pitfalls.

To help alleviate the problem, Crown Services offers a fully managed, cost-free aggregation service to deliver buying power to the public sector. In simple terms, aggregation is collective buying by a group of bodies, leveraging their combined requirements to purchase goods and services at the best possible price.

Commercial agreements

Commercial agreements help public and non-profit sector buyers to procure goods and services from a comprehensive list of pre-selected suppliers, with agreed terms, conditions and legal protections.

Once awarded, commercial agreements are usually valid for a fixed term, after which they are re-tendered, giving new suppliers the chance to attain pre-approved status.

Commercial agreements are split into categories by product or service type, and suppliers are invited to bid on the classification that best suits their offering. Specifically, each supplier will be judged and approved (or not as the case may be) on individual categories. If successful, they will be listed as an approved supplier of that particular product or service type, regardless of the size of their business portfolio. If a supplier wishes to be considered for more than one grouping,  they will have to go through a separate selection process for each one.

Councils can purchase everything from laptops, police cars, electric vehicle charging infrastructure to building materials. Services range from legal expertise to teams of digital experts; from construction project managers to financial services and business travel solutions.

Building a better future

Adopting a green growth strategy, by switching to new energy technologies such as solar, heat pumps, LED lighting and hydrogen products, can help to dramatically improve the efficiency rating of older buildings and provide instant savings for both commercial and residential new builds.

The UK transport sector, which covers everything from street lighting and traffic management to logistics, is a major contributor to greenhouse gas emissions. The fleet agreements provide access to electric vehicles and supporting charging infrastructure, enabling councils to implement a scalable solution to suit the requirements of their region.