Our workforce
In April 2020, Procurement and Commercial Services was centralised into a dedicated department to create an integrated function within the council to oversee and manage its procurement efforts and overall commercial strategy.
Our department broadly includes the following four sub-divisions:
- Commercial Business Partners - provides commercial and strategic support to service departments and develops a procurement approach dedicated to their respective policy portfolio
- Responsible Procurement and Supplier Relationship Management - provides dedicated support for contract managers, monitors supply chain risk, and ensures that services are procured responsibly
- Tendering service - provides a dedicated pool of tendering professionals to manage all tendering activities over £25,000; this includes managing procurement on behalf of the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea for Adults and Children’s Services.
- Policy, Performance and Systems: provides systems, data, policy and governance support
Responsible Procurement
The service has implemented a Responsible Procurement and Commissioning (RPC) Strategy, which sets out a clear framework to guide our work on sustainable development with suppliers and deliver social value through our contracting activities.
The strategy leverages our spending and supplier relationships to minimise risks to workers, public health, and the environment while maximising opportunities for residents, local organisations, and the wider community. It embraces circular and green economy principles and aims to ensure fair and equitable working conditions within our supply chain.
One of our main aims this year is to provide practical support to contract managers and suppliers in fulfilling responsible procurement outcomes. This includes ensuring effective systems are in place, and practical advice and guidance are readily available.
The other key aim is to ensure the procurement team is better connected with relevant stakeholders who can benefit from these outcomes and help guide our approach. This includes direct interaction with residents and service users to ensure services and schemes are fit for purpose; resident-facing colleagues supporting vulnerable, unemployed, and/or isolated people; and other departments aiming to tackle wider issues such as climate and ecological emergencies.
Contract Management Framework
In November 2023, we refreshed our Contract Management Framework, which aims to support an effective and consistent approach to managing various contracts. The framework is designed to help manage risk and leverage opportunities in all contracts, providing a range of tools and templates for contract managers. It is supplemented by regular training and workshops led by subject matter experts and peers, which draw upon existing good practices and lessons learned.
The framework seeks to ensure that contracts deliver the expected outcomes and benefits. It also seeks to realise and continuously improve any market advantage secured through the tendering phase through effective performance management. By proactively assessing and mitigating risks related to performance, spending reputation, and business continuity, the framework seeks to reduce risks to the council, residents, and workforce.
Analytics - turning data into insight
The council's procurement, contract management, and finance systems provide a wealth of data. Meaningful analysis of this data provides insights that allow us to make data-driven decisions, improving our work across the whole source-to-pay lifecycle.
We combine our internal data on spend, purchase orders, contracts, and suppliers with third-party data sources, such as credit ratings. This allows us to identify and mitigate supply chain risks, find opportunities to save on costs for the goods, works, and services we procure, discover more effective ways to contract with our suppliers, and continuously improve our operational efficiency.
Find out more information regarding how we safeguard your data.
Supplier relationship management
We aim to increase collaboration with our strategic suppliers to create mutually beneficial outcomes beyond traditional contract management. This will help us become a better client of our suppliers and a customer of choice.
This year, we are focusing on forming good relationships with our strategic suppliers, who account for 80% of the council's spending. During this first phase, we are supporting suppliers with the technical aspects of responsible procurement related to carbon reduction and modern slavery due diligence, co-developing action plans for continuous improvement by both parties.
