08/07/21 

The award-wining procurement team at Cardiff Council has joined forces with Monmouthshire County Council (MCC) in a collaborative venture which will see the Cardiff authority manage MCC's procurement operations and functions for the next three years. 

The move, which will take effect from August 1, 2021, will allow both authorities to combine resources and maximise use of spending power to help drive the recovery of their local economies.

Both councils have ambitions to see this collaboration move to a rolling contract whereby the authorities would work together in the discharge and provision of their procurement services. This would be delivered by Cardiff Council on behalf of both councils. 

The agreement enables Monmouthshire County Council to benefit from a bigger team, increasing from two to five, to include three new full-time starters, managed by the award-winning and highly respected Cardiff Council procurement service.

The arrangement will also see Cardiff Council deliver: 

• Leadership and management of Monmouthshire Council's Procurement Function;
• Technical capability, expertise and category-specific knowledge to support delivery of the contract pipeline;
• Support on the development and delivery of procurement strategy and policy.

It's also hoped the delegation will provide an opportunity to share wider good practice with a greater focus on whole-life cost and will help Monmouthshire County Council to manage its procurement demand better by establishing and monitoring a contract/works pipeline.

Cllr Chris Weaver, Cardiff Council Cabinet member for Finance, Modernisation and Performance, said: "This is an important partnership for Cardiff and for Monmouthshire. We want to lead the way in delivering major, collaborative, procurement arrangements for the Welsh public sector and this is a step towards that goal. It can help both authorities use their spending power to secure the best deals and to drive local recoveries as we come out of lockdown.

"In Cardiff we have developed an award-winning procurement team which is highly respected across the public sector and we are looking forward to bringing our skill, knowledge and expertise to Monmouthshire to help them realise all of their ambitions. This venture will also see the recruitment of three new procurement officers to complement the existing Cardiff and Monmouthshire staff - a welcome investment in building procurement capacity within Local Government in Wales."

Monmouthshire County Council's Cabinet Member for Resources, Councillor Phil Murphy said: "Entering into this important agreement demonstrates our commitment to ensuring we procure in an efficient way, utilising the expertise and knowledge of this highly-respected team, while also understanding the needs in Monmouthshire. I'm proud to see our two progressive organisations coming together to combine resources and look at ways of delivering the very best for our communities."