In partnership with

Annual Report2014

9%7.8%

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02 Our aims for 2015

02 What we achieved in 2014

03 Financial overview

04 Chair and Director’s report

06 Business plan

07 Results of Member survey

08 PfH’s 10th anniversary

09 Case Studies: Radian and Stonewater

10 Case Study: Vehicle Fleet Management Services

11 Case study: Southern Housing Group

12 PfH Scotland

13 PfH Live 2015

14 The future of procurement

15 Our frameworks and suppliers

Contact UsPfH, 2 Olympic Park, Woolston Grange Avenue, Birchwood, Warrington, WA2 0YL (for SatNav use WA2 0XF).

t: 0845 864 5260 e: info@procurementforhousing.co.ukwww.procurementforhousing.co.uk

Contents Our aims for 2015

What we achieved in 2014

PfH already has a very strong standing within the social housing sector and in 2015 we want toenhance this by further improving our service standards for Members. A crucial part of this is helpingsocial landlords to maximise their effectiveness by accessing PfH’s wide range of services. Ourexpertise is geared towards supporting every single one of our Members on their mission to achievehighly effective management of all their procurement processes and outcomes.

In 2014 PfH successfully completed a major transition from traditional framework provider to complete procurement solutions provider. We now offer a broad array of procurement expertise,technology and market intelligence designed to help Members improve their practices, achieve better quality, greater value for money and ultimately drive savings whilst delivering social value.

Our challenge in 2015 is to make all Members aware of the many ways in which PfH can transform their business through world class procurement services and consultancy.

Spend under managementreached £170.6m – up 9% from 2013

7.8% increase in Membership- PfH now has 916 Membersand 261 Associate Members

5 new and improvedframeworks launched

Launch of new Quantum billing and reporting system

637,155 invoices processedthrough our billing system

Exposure to more than 7,600CIH Housing Conference andExhibition delegates at PfH Live

7,6

17.9% staff growth to betterservice our Members

PfH’s first apprentice qualified,a placement funded by PfH

10 years of savings growth:Member spend has risen from£5m a year in 2004 to nearly£4m a week in 2014

£4m

5

3

Supporting HouseMark

HouseMark is a subsidiary of the CIH and the NHF and a sponsor of PfH. HouseMark helps the social housing sector to improve performance and achieve value for money by sharing knowledge, providing consultancysupport and business performance data. This year PfH has been able to make a contribution of £506,477 toHouseMark. This contribution supports HouseMark, the CIH and the NHF in promoting good practice and policy work on behalf of the sector.

Supporting Members’ buying needs

We have aligned our category management expertise to match our Members’ buying behaviour.

• Delivering your service (Direct Spend) – such as asset management spend, typically focused on repairs, maintenance and development.

• Running your business (Indirect Spend) – predominantly focused on head office or service spend such as Office Supplies and Recruitment Services.

• Powering your organisation – energy and utilities spend.

This new approach allows greater focus on category,supplier and contract management to further improve the

1st August 2013 to 31st July 2014

Delivering your service

Running your business

Powering your organisation

47%

25%

28%

9%increase

3

3

Financial overview

Focusing on Members’ strategic growth

Spend under management grew by 9% from £157.2 millionin 2013 to £170.6 million in 2014.

This increase was consistent across all categories and new structural changes within PfH (including a realignment of category frameworks) mean that our team will be morefocused on Members’ priorities in order to bring even more spend under management.

Leading PfH strategy

It has been another successful year for the PfH Advisory Group. This group sets strategic direction for PfH and it is integral to the business planning process. The group helps monitor theperformance of PfH and their input is invaluable. We would like to thank the PfH Advisory Group for their support this year and look forward to working with them to build on the progressmade during 2014.

A new offer for the sector

The theme dominating 2014 was that of transition. PfH hasmoved from predominantly offering framework agreementsto becoming the sector’s only specialist national procurementservices provider.

Despite a tough operating environment for the social housingsector, 2014 has been an outstanding year for PfH withsignificant growth in efficiencies, Membership numbers and spend under management. We are now saving sociallandlords an incredible £1m a week.

Changes within the organisation mean PfH is even betterequipped to continue this success. Members now have access toan extensive range of procurement expertise, technical knowledge,market data and leading edge technology, helping them to tacklethe many financial and operational challenges they will face in2015 and beyond.

Demand for PfH’s procurement services has risen substantially with a number of landlords benefitting from our dedicated spendanalysis, strategy development and performance measurementactivity. Our aim is to bridge any gaps found in the procurementprocesses of housing providers and help to enhance theperformance of their business. Key to this is growing the commercial skill set of the sector.

It has been a year of celebration and transition for PfH. Our 10th anniversary provided an opportunity to take stock of the considerable progress we’ve made over the course of a decade. But this hasn’t meant standing still. Responding quickly to the changing needs of the sector has been key to our success and in 2014 PfH responded again by repositioning itself to offer a more holistic range of procurement services.

Tailored solutions in challenging times

To facilitate the shift towards full service procurement provision, PfH has made significant investment in its Quantum software. Aswell as giving Members thorough spend visibility to drive efficiencyand better contract management, the new system improvesinteraction between social landlords, suppliers and the PfH team.

Quantum technology allows us to showcase the added value that our procurement experts can bring to Members. It also acts as a gateway to our menu of services – from light touch support to an outsourced, fully managed procurement function.

Investment in our people

PfH’s transition has seen an expansion of the operations team to offer a heightened level of expertise aligned closely withMembers’ buying needs. Retendered agreements have beenchanged and new ones introduced to match Members’requirements. Categories have been realigned to help us manage frameworks more effectively.

Engaging Members

The transition to full service procurement delivery reflects the findingsof research by the University of Liverpool, PfH and Affinity Suttonlooking at how landlords can overcome barriers to commerciallyfocused procurement. That research was shaped by input from the sector and this year we have continued to engage Members to match our service offer with their requirements.

Our first regional strategy group in the South East is now wellestablished and strategy groups in other parts of the country will belaunched in early 2015. Each strategy group is made up of financeand procurement professionals from Member organisations wholead PfH in evaluating and developing local, regional and nationalprocurement solutions for the social housing sector.

Chair and Director’s report

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A recent survey of PfH Members (see p7) highlighted their concerns over government cutbacks and the financial uncertaintythis has brought. The findings reinforce the need for furtherimprovements in the approach to procurement, contract and costmanagement across the sector. PfH’s procurement services havebeen designed to ensure organisations are equipped to deal withcurrent economic challenges, supporting them to deliver their longterm business plan commitments.

PfH Scotland goes live

One of the highlights of 2014 was the rapid growth of ourGlasgow-based procurement service for Scottish social landlords.PfH Scotland now procures on behalf of 47 Members (representing60% of the country’s social housing stock). A new website haslaunched and our PfH Scotland team has expanded to include ahead of operations, Ian Taylor, who has a strong track record instrategic procurement in both the private and public sector.

Ian was a key player in the creation of Scotland Excel, the centre of procurement expertise for Scotland’s local government sector,where he headed up strategic procurement. He also managedsupply chain strategy for defence technology company QinetiQ.

In 2015 PfH Scotland will focus on developing its procurementservices to include training, procurement consultancy and support for housing associations and co-operatives around public procurement reform.

Rising to the challenge

It’s now 10 years since PfH was set up by the Chartered Institute of Housing, the National Housing Federation and HouseMark. Our birthday celebrations allowed us to reflect on just how far bothPfH and procurement in the sector have come since 2004. Some£300m in savings have been generated by PfH since then. Butperhaps the most pertinent statistic is the fact that 92% of organisationswho joined us10 years ago are still Members today.

This demonstrates the reputation for excellence and the high level of trust we have built up over the years. It also shows the continued demand for top quality procurement support amongst social landlords.

Over the last two years PfH has begun to challenge the sector,examining how landlords manage procurement. We want to ensure that the level of procurement maturity within social housing is fit for purpose in what is a very challenging operatingenvironment for our Members. Having repositioned ourselves as a provider of procurement services, 2015 will see PfH push ahead to demonstrate – with key Members – what leading edge procurement can look like and how landlords can transform their businesses.

Steve Malone, Managing Director, Procurement for Housing

Steve Coffey, Chief Executive, Liverpool Mutual Homes and Chair of the Procurement for Housing Advisory Group

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Continued austerity in 2015, coupled with further welfare reform, will lead to greater pressure on Members to find savings, drive efficiency anddemonstrate value for money. PfH will see strong growth in 2015 havingadapted to become a full service procurement provider geared up to address these critical needs.

Business plan

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While 2014 was characterised by PfH’s transition, 2015will be about continuing that repositioning process toestablish the business as the only national provider ofprocurement services for the social housing sector.

That will mean investment in people, technology and new services to ensure PfH remains at the leading edge and is able to meet organisations’ shifting needs. We willcontinue to develop both our Quantum technology platformand our menu of procurement services so we can providean extensive suite of integrated products covering the entire procurement process.

A key focus for 2015 will be changing – and broadening - the perception of what PfH can offer to social landlords.Investment in staff - predominantly our sales, procurementservices, operations and energy teams - will facilitate this.

Areas for growth

The message from the sector over the last year, fromresearch findings and Member feedback, shows thatboosting value for money, reducing non-compliant buyingand dealing with poor spend visibility are at the forefront of landlords’ concerns. Limited resources in 2015 willincrease the need for housing organisations to tackle these challenges urgently and intelligently.

As a full service procurement provider, PfH is well placed to help organisations meet these challenges, whether it’s through consultancy, bespoke tendering, frameworks or technology solutions such as spend analytics.

The next year is also likely to see a continued trend towardsmergers, shared or outsourced services and ALMOs beingbrought back in-house by local authorities. This presents both risks and opportunities for PfH but with acomprehensive service offer, it can help organisationsreorganise their business to cope with those changes and maximise the financial benefits.

Building on our strengths

Aggregating spend through framework agreements has been the backbone of PfH’s business during the last decade. In 2015 we plan to launch eight new frameworks and retender another five.

In 2014 we restructured our framework offer to align it withMembers’ buying patterns and individual needs. Agreementswill become a gateway to the other services PfH now offers,marrying the data gleaned from frameworks to help Membersdevelop a greater insight into their business and providing themwith valuable market intelligence.

This new approach allows PfH to demonstrate how theseinsights might help landlords to improve their buying behaviourand procurement maturity – ultimately achieving greatersavings and increased social value from their day-to-dayprocurement activity.

With the social housing regulator placing an even greaterfocus on value for money, the onus is on landlords to make their case and PfH can help them to do that convincingly.

Results of Member surveyMember survey reveals a difficult balancing act.

Finances are tighter than ever in the sector while demand for housing services is rising. Members have told PfH they face difficult decisions on how to strike the right balance.

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Key challenges for the next 12 months:

• “Delivering everything that is needed with limited resources”

• “Trying to achieve all the procurement that has been scheduled”

• “Compliance, especially in the light of changes to the EU Procurement Directives in 2014”

• “Delivering an improved service at the same time as reducing cost in the business”

• “To find a way of reducing all our costs in order to meet the challenge of our council in reducing our budget by another 25% by 2017”

Priorities for procurement over the next three years:

• “Increase buy-in and compliance group-wide through all contracts”

• “Buy smarter, not just better. [Be a] value adding function, not policing”

• “Commercially competitive procurement, with a balance of unit price and service from our supply chain”

• “Find a way of reducing all our costs… looking at low but highly repetitive spend”

• “What can we outsource that is cheaper, what can suppliers/contractors do in management elements that we don’t have to do [so we can] reduce our costs?”

The latest survey of PfH Members, conducted in December 2014, shows that the tough economic climate and skills shortages in areas like contractmanagement are among the most pressing concerns for social housing procurement professionals.

As the full effect of government cutbacks and welfarereforms begins to hit home, a key challenge is how todeliver and improve services while also reducing costs. The issue of stretched resources was particularly markedamong local authority Members, many of which have seen the biggest cutbacks.

Some Members report simply not having the resources to procure the goods they need. But the biggest finding was a growing need to achieve value for money through‘smarter buying’. One of the solutions flagged up was the development of more Member - focused frameworks,something PfH has responded to with five new andimproved frameworks.

When asked what they consider when looking at a newframework, Members provided a range of responses. They included the service/goods available, the quality and range of suppliers, ease and cost of use, savingsevident, depth of the tender process and OJEU compliance.

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Ten years of savings growth

PfH’s 10th anniversary

Steve Coffey, chief executive of Liverpool Mutual Homes andchair of the PfH Advisory Group says: ”PfH has pushed theboundaries of procurement activity in the social housing sector. It has demonstrated that procurement has so much more to offer that just aggregating demand.”

“I believe the consortium can bring about a cultural shift so the sector takes a more strategic approach to procurement.This way social landlords will be able to tackle the financialchallenges they are facing by generating increased value for money.”

Another key success factor has been the breadth of PfH’sappeal. Its Members stretch 1,294km from North to South. But one of the most telling statistics is the fact that PfH hasretained 92% of its original Members. One of them – ArenaHousing Group – merged with Harvest Housing in 2012 to form Your Housing Group.

Its chief executive, Brian Cronin, has viewed PfH’s growth in stature with interest and believes part of its success reflects the ‘togetherness’ of the sector.

“Over the past ten years PfH has shown that the social housingsector is still a movement, we can still work and buy togetherfor the mutual benefit of our residents and achieve real valuefor money,” he says.

“It’s proved that commercialisation and collective workingaren’t mutually exclusive within the social housing sector. PfHhas also removed much of the back office messing around andprovided simple, quick systems that give procurement teamsthe space and time to focus on core challenges.”

PfH has come a long way since it was set up by theChartered Institute for Housing, the National HousingFederation and HouseMark back in 2004. Having startedoff with just 23 Members and a total annual spend of £5m,it now has 916 Members who spend nearly £4m a weekthrough 28 different frameworks. PfH’s materials frameworkalone has seen more than £180m of plumbing, heating,building and electrical products bought through theconsortium over the last 10 years.

It was apt that PfH’s birthday coincided with theorganisation passing yet another milestone – achieving£1m in savings every week for our framework users.

But there’s hunger to achieve even more.

“We’re very proud of what PfH has achieved over the past ten years but we’re only really scratching the surface in terms of potential savings,” says managing director Steve Malone.

“Social landlords spend £13bn every year on goods and services and £5-6bn of this is addressable spend that could be reduced through better buying practices. PfH managed just over £170m of social housing spend in 2014 and my aim is for this to rise to £1bn over the next four to five years.”

He believes PfH can lead transformational change for the sector through sophisticated procurement. That goal is reflected in the way the organisation has broadened its offer from traditional framework activity to acomprehensive procurement service.

Investment in people and technology have placed PfH at the forefront of market intelligence, providing landlordswith the expertise needed to help improve practices andultimately maximise efficiency savings and social value.

Our Memberscollectively manage 75%

of UK social housing

£300mPfH has achieved

£300m in savings since 2004

2billion

2 billion sheets of paper have been purchased

since PfH began

The size of our team has grown by 600%

5,600 knowledge and training opportunities have

been created since 2004

5600

£4mMembers now spend nearly£4million a week with PfH

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Case Study:

PfH delivers procurement expertise and capacity to RadianRadian was formed following a merger in 2006 and currently provides nearly21,000 affordable homes in Berkshire, Buckinghamshire, Dorset, Hampshire, Isle of Wight, Surrey, Sussex and Wiltshire.

Following the development of a solid procurementfoundation, Radian needed to roll out a comprehensivework plan. Carly Haswell, procurement manager at Radian takes up the story.

“Our small team of two procurement professionals neededextra resource and approached PfH to support a two yearwork programme, delivering 30 projects ranging fromtraining services to fire equipment maintenance. PfH

responded by recruiting a procurement specialist to bebased at Radian’s offices near Southampton to engage withstaff and other stakeholders in the delivery of the projects.”

“Existing PfH frameworks have been utilised whereappropriate, but where this wasn’t the case PfH havesourced the requirements from other frameworks ordelivered bespoke tenders. After only 6 months into the programme and with 9 projects underway, the benefits of the partnership are being realised.”

Case Study:

Stonewater’s procurement teamfreed up to focus on key prioritiesJephson and Raglan housing associations recently merged to become Stonewater.Stonewater manages and owns more than 30,000 homes across England.

Procurement for Housing (PfH) was selected by Jephson to source new contracts for the maintenance of commercial lifts and stair lifts. Adopting strong projectmanagement disciplines and following a restricted EUprocess, PfH delivered all elements of the procurementexercise from initial stakeholder engagement through to contract award, delivering a fully compliant LiftMaintenance Contract for Jephson.

Adopting a best practice approach, PfH were able to deliver an effective contract on behalf of JephsonHousing. This enabled Jephson’s internal procurementfunction to focus on other priorities without compromising on quality of output.

Fiona Adams, procurement manager at Stonewaterexplains why PfH were brought on board: “PfH were used in 2014 to undertake an OJEU tender formaintenance of passenger lifts and stair lifts for JephsonHousing Association Group. This was a useful way of adding short-term additional resource to our smallprocurement team from a trusted source without any long term commitment.”

“Feedback from stakeholders was very positive and PfHliaised strongly with the in-house procurement team openlyand professionally at all times. They worked well withstakeholders (both internal and external) and delivered an excellent outcome in terms of the contract awarded. Rob Peck and Steffanie Dagg represented their businesswell and we would be happy to work with them again.”

Case Study:

Spotlight on PfH’s Vehicle FleetManagement Services framework

In 2013 PfH appointed seven suppliers to deliver its Vehicle Fleet ManagementServices framework. This framework provides Members with a wide range of fleetsolutions from vehicle lease, short term contract hire and daily rental, to vehicleracking, conversion and telematics. It also covers the provision of fuel cards.

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Tim Meadows, brand director at Automotive Leasing, said: “We are thrilled to have won the Merlin Housing Society contract and we are looking forward to workingtogether over the next few years. The Automotive Leasing team worked incredibly hard to secure the deal with Mercedes to put forward a very competitive offer. Our first ranked supplier status on the Procurement for Housing framework also continues to demonstrate our commitment to the sector.”

Winston Williams, managing director of property solutions at Merlin Housing Society, said: “Whilst evaluating ourcommercial fleet, it became clear that we needed one central supplier for all our vehicles and Automotive Leasing’s consolidated fleet offering ticked all the boxes. We are excited to work with the team and are delighted with the Mercedes vehicles.”

Automotive Leasing, the specialist public sector division of fleet management company LeasePlan, was one of the seven top performing suppliers appointed to the framework. In 2014 Merlin Housing Society appointedAutomotive Leasing to provide its operational staff with 120 commercial vehicles.

Merlin Housing Society previously used a combination ofrented, owned and contract hire vehicles. However, whenthe housing association reviewed its existing contracts, itused the opportunity to consolidate its fleet with one supplierand Automotive Leasing emerged as the clear choice.

Automotive Leasing’s global deal with Mercedes ensured a very competitive quote which subsequently cinched thedeal. The win was also credited to Automotive Leasingbeing the first ranked supplier on Procurement for Housing’sVehicle Fleet Management Services framework agreement.

The five year contract with Merlin began in April 2014 with the delivery of 120 Mercedes commercial vehicles to the operational staff who carry out maintenance onMerlin Housing's 8,000 properties. The contract hirevehicles are fully racked and liveried with the MerlinHousing Society signage.

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Case Study:

PfH support delivers efficiency andsavings – and a commercial edge Southern Housing Group (SHG) manages nearly 28,000 homes for around 67,000 residents across London and the South East.

SHG initially joined PfH to obtain an easy and compliantroute to market, and to achieve cost savings. “However,”says Bill McCormick, group procurement manager at SHG,“our relationship with PfH has moved towards using theservices of PfH as a thought leader within the sector.”

SHG approached PfH to develop a new framework for cleaning and grounds maintenance services. “PfH provided us with great market insight. This was evident in the production of a comprehensive specificationwhich set out the requirements in a straightforwardfashion,” Bill explains.

It was agreed that a framework would be needed to allowfor each scheme to run a mini competition so they could findthe best service provider to meet their individual criteria.

“PfH helped us to scrutinise the pricing so we had greaterconfidence in the price points submitted as part of theprocess,” Bill adds. The driving force behind this was to allow SMEs to tender for work and to provide greaterflexibility for the nine regional managers to award cleaning or grounds maintenance services to the contractor that could best address that scheme’s need.

Early indications show SHG is making considerablesavings. The result of the first mini tender led to savings in the region of 40-50% on grounds maintenance and 15-30% on cleaning.

Using PfH’s procurement services allowed the team at SHGto concentrate on more value-adding activities. “PfH wasalso very knowledgeable about the EU process,” says Bill.

The final result has undoubtedly been a success – reducingthe number of suppliers from 150 to around 20, producinga clear contract management process, resulting in improvedcontract and specification documents as well as betterresident involvement.

“I feel that PfH is moving the boundaries of whatprocurement professionals within social housingorganisations expect of themselves,” Bill adds. “PfH isalready starting to look at the benefits within the sector of improved spend visibility, market knowledge, internalpositioning, external influence and power, outside sectorbenchmarking, collaborative procurement, and other areas which will be of immense benefit.”

“These steps will enable procurement to become morecommercial and help SHG widen our scope of influence.The ultimate goal being that we will soon sit at the top tableand be recognised as a function which can shape changeand truly add value.”

Residents from Heather House enjoying a Residents event put on by SHG Boy enjoying the Big Clean Up event at another one of SHG’s estates

Growth in all areas for Scotland’sindependent procurement service

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In his new role, Ian Taylor will be responsible for extending PfH Scotland’s procurement services to include training,procurement consultancy and support for social landlordsaround public procurement reform. He will also grow PfHScotland’s Membership and develop the organisation’s rangeof framework agreements to ensure local needs are met.

“This is a challenging time for Scottish social landlords”, saysIan Taylor. “In just over a year the sector will have to complywith many new regulations when the Procurement Reform Bill and new EU Directives come into force and whenrecommendations of the 2013 Review of Scottish Public Sector Procurement in Construction begins to be implemented.This adds further pressure to a sector already feeling the strainfrom current economic and sector difficulties”.

“Social housing in Scotland is diverse and a one-size-fits-allapproach to procurement is no use. I’m keen to work withhousing organisations on an individual basis, looking at howPfH Scotland can meet their specific needs and support themin their implementation of all new legal requirements. I alsowant to harness the growing appetite for more collaborative,strategic procurement. My other goals include boosting theskills and capacity of procurement professionals in Scotlandand ensuring that more opportunities are opened up to localbusinesses to boost local economies.”

2014 was a big year for Scotland. On 18 September the country voted to remain in the United Kingdom and the debate on devolution is set to continue for some time.

A fresh public procurement regime for Scotland inched evercloser with three new EU Directives being approved by theEuropean Commission in April and the Procurement Reform(Scotland) Act receiving Royal Assent in June.

The Scottish Government has just over a year to work outhow to transpose the new EU Directives in to national law.In April 2016 both pieces of legislation must come intoforce and housing providers will be bound by a new set of procurement regulations.

PfH Scotland has been working hard to support Scottishsocial landlords in their preparation for these legalrequirements. Our Glasgow team has developed bespokeprocurement services to help Scottish housing organisationsunderstand all new duties such as supporting SMEs,creating procurement strategies and complying with specific tender practices. The PfH Scotland team want to remove any worries that housing organisations haveabout complying so they can focus on their core activities.

Other developments for PfH Scotland include the launch of a brand new website and the expansion of its team to include Ian Taylor who was appointed as head of operations for PfH Scotland in December.

Ian has a strong understanding of the public procurementlandscape in Scotland having helped to set up ScotlandExcel, the centre of procurement expertise for Scotland’slocal government sector.

• Scottish social landlords spend £530mon goods and services every year

• Over 47 social housing providers in Scotland now procure through PfH Scotland

• PfH Scotland’s Members own 60%of social housing stock in Scotland

Contact PfH Scotland for more information, t: 0845 864 5288 e: info@pfhscotland.co.uk

2015

23rd – 25th June

Sessions on everything from delivering world class procurement to the new EU directive proved a big hit at PfH Live in 2014. So much so that PfH will once again co-locate with the CIH annual conference in June at Manchester Central with another programme designed to spark debate and offer insight.

PfH Live 2014 provided:

• 3 days of seminars and networking opportunities

• 83 suppliers in the PfH Live Exhibition

• Launch of a one-to-one procurement clinic

• 11 speakers

• 7,600 delegates passed through the doors

• 11 master classes

• 4 supplier sessions

Plans for PfH Live 2015

2015’s social housing procurement event will be an excellentopportunity for housing professionals to make contacts, share best practice and discuss challenges with their peers, PfH staff and other leading procurement practitioners. As well as threedays of interactive seminars on the key topics affecting socialhousing procurement, there will be the chance to accesssuppliers from a wide range of PfH agreements.

For more information about the event, please follow: procurementforhousing.co.uk/insight-and-opinion/pfh-live-2015

After another successful year, the PfH Live event will be back at the CIH HousingConference and Exhibition in 2015 with more thought-provoking sessions.

13

The future of procurement

14

The technology and expertise PfH has developed allows it totake organisations through a transformative journey. It can workwith landlords to identify gaps and provide solutions that canbe delivered in-house or outsourced to PfH.

As financial pressures mount, Members will become moredemanding in terms of their expectations of PfH and theservices they require. Through constant improvement andinnovation – and by challenging Members to push procurementboundaries – PfH will be a powerful ally and a critical friend.

• Procurement effectiveness and maturity: Using Quantum Spend Analysis technology, PfH can provide total spend visibility. By analysing data we can show landlords how effective their procurement processes are and how to improve them.

• Sourcing and procurement partnering: PfH’s knowledge and network of technical specialists can help Members enhance their procurement capacity and capability. Our team can deliver procurement services from specific projects to fully integrated shared services.

• Performance measurement and tracking: To ensure maximum impact from sourcing activity, PfH can work with landlords to embed long-term contract management and performance tracking techniques. Tools have been developed to help Members effectively manage both spend and suppliers as well as track future savings.

The operating environment for housing organisations looks certain to become more challenging. Procurementremains under-resourced and under-utilised both as a way to deliver savings and efficiency and in the widertransformation of social housing businesses.

The overriding view at PfH is that, in the future, procurementneeds to be a central consideration rather than an add-on.In practice this would mean that when a strategic project isbeing planned, procurement is considered from the outsetand not just called upon when it comes to buying goodsand services.

This is more likely to happen when systems and processesare built out from procurement, for example through a category management approach to spend, where there is greater visibility of all transactions.

Better quality, greater value and higher savings can all beachieved by favouring a strategic approach that improvesprocess efficiencies and buyer behaviour as opposed tosimply focusing on eroding supplier margins. Procurementneeds to be value for money driven but with a firm grasp of long-term sustainability. It’s smarter to invest in yoursupply chain and award longer contracts with strongcontract management and value measurements to provide greater visibility and consistency of spend.

But ultimately it’s about changing the profile of procurementwithin the organisation and moving away from thedepartmentalised attitude of ‘you buy it, we use it’.

PfH’s potential role in this culture change cuts across a number of areas and will vary between organisations. It could be light touch - providing category expertise and taking on procedural tasks so Members can focus on strategic work. But PfH can also offer a morecomprehensive service, auditing existing procurementsystems, designing a new procurement structure or delivering entire procurement projects.

Procurement in the social housing sector needs to evolve iforganisations are to manage the financial pressures that lieahead. But what could that entail and what role will PfH play?

Our frameworks and suppliersDelivering Your ServiceBuilding Cleaning Services *May 11

AM Support Services

Hi-Spec Services

Mitie

Ocean Contract Cleaning

QFSL Cleaning

Regent Cleaning

Superclean Services

Decorating Vouchers *Sep 13

B&Q

Flooring *Aug 13

Crown Flooring Limited

Designer Contracts Limited

Furniture and Associated Products *Sep 13

Furniture Resource Centre

Peel Mount

Shackletons

Pineapple

Whitaker Services

Kitchens *Nov 13

CLC Contractors

Desmond Magee & Sons

Forrest

Keepmoat Regeneration

Magnet

Moores Furniture Group

Richmond Cabinet Company

Rixonway Kitchens

The Symphony Group

Japanese Knotweed and Other Invasive Weeds *Mar 13

Country Grounds Maintenance

Japanese Knotweed Control

Japanese Knotweed Specialists

Kingcombe Aquacare

PBA Solutions

Phlorum Limited

Materials and Associated Managed Services *Feb12

AKW Medicare

B&Q (Tradepoint)

Chiltern Invadex Limited

Edmundson Electrical

Eyre & Elliston

Grafton Merchanting GB Limited

Impey Showers Limited

Jewson/ Graham Limited

Newey & Eyre

Prism UK Medical Limited

PTS

Screwfix

Stannah Stairlifts

Unimer trading as NMBS

Wolseley

Supporting manufacturers for Materials andAssociated Managed Services Agreement

Adey

Aico

ASD

BDR Thermea (Baxi)

Be Modern

Bristan

Danfoss

Envirovent

Fernox

GDC Group

Glow-worm

Grundfos

Ideal Heating

Ideal Standard

Mira

Myson

Pegler

Polypipe

Purmo

Quinn

Redring

Roper Rhodes

Sentinel

Siemens

Spirotech

Stelrad

Tavistock

Thorn

Triton

Twyford Bathrooms

Vaillant

Valor

Vent Axia

Volex

Worcester

Wylex

Paint *Feb 13

Crown Paints

ICI Paints AkzoNobel

PPG Architectural Coatings

Running your business

Ambient and Chilled Food *Sep 13

3663 Limited

Brakes Limited

H.N. Nuttall Limited

Mark Clegg & Company Limited

Bill Payment Services *Feb 11

The Co-operative Bank

Our frameworks and suppliers continued;

Find out about how we can help you deliver world class procurement

www.procurementforhousing.co.uk or call 0845 864 5260

Care and Support *May 14

BS Social Care

Caritas Recruitment

CRG Social Care

Dean Healthcare

Direct Temping

Eden Brown

EVRO Recruitment

Morgan Hunt

Randstad Care

Reed Specialist Recruitment

Search Consultancy

Service Care Solutions

Starting Point

Swanstaff Recruitment

Commercial and Domestic Appliances *Oct 14

Avinity

JLA Limited

Debt Management *Jul 11

BPO Collections Limited

CCS Collect

Network Credit Services

Orbit Services

Workwear, PPE and Janitorial *Mar 14

Bunzl Greenham

EuroSafe Ltd

Joseph Gleave & Son Limited

Nationwide Hygiene Supplies

Office Depot

PWS Limited

Legal Services *Jul 14

Anthony Collins

Brabners

Freeths

Pennington Manches

Stephensons Solicitors

Walker Morris

Weightmans

Office Supplies *Apr 13

Office Depot

Recruitment Services *Jan 11

Blue Arrow

Eden Brown

Hays Specialist Recruitment

McGinley Human Resources

Morgan Hunt Public Sector

Office Angels Limited

Randstad UK Holding

Reed Specialist Recruitment Limited

Service Care Solutions Limited

Telecommunications *Feb 13

Britannic Technologies

ConvergeOne

Daisy Communications

Gamma Network Solutions

Social Telecoms

Print Management, Photocopiers and Associated Services *Jun 12

Altodigital

Arena Group

CDP

InnerWorkings

M2

Resource Housing

Vehicle Fleet Management Services *Apr 13

Automotive Leasing

Bott Limited

Days Contract Hire

Lex Autolease

Masternaut

Shell

Venson Automotive Solutions

Vehicle Purchasing *Apr 11

Allied Vehicles

Citroen

DAF Trucks

Euro Commercials

Fiat

Ford

General Motors

Isuzu

Iveco

Kia

Mazda

Nissan

Peugeot

Renault

Renault Trucks

Rygor Commercials

Toyota

Energy Procurement and Consultancy *Oct 12

Aqua - Elvet Partnership

Carbon Smart

Centre for Sustainable Energy

Inenco

UPG

Verco

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