Winning in Tendering team take a lead at Welsh Assembly Government Conference
On the 19th September 2012 ICPS and Winning in Tendering staff were invited to present papers at the Welsh Assembly Government’s second annual Welsh Public Sector: Open for Business conference. The event took place at Venue Cymru in Llandudno, and was attended by over 160 suppliers and public bodies. The day included an opening address from Jane Hutt AM, Minister for Finance and Leader of the House, as well as various presentations from public procurement specialists form the worlds of business, academia, law, government and the NHS.
In opening the conference, and setting the tone for the rest of the day, Jane Hutt AM referred to how, “buying better is something everyone has a view on. Over a third of the Welsh Government budget is ultimately spent on external goods, works and services. How we spend this annual £4.3 billion is of vital importance to our economy, our public services and the well-being of our communities.”
Professor Dermot Cahill, Director of the Institute for Competition and Procurement Studies, ICPS, and Project Director for the Winning in Tendering Project, was invited to join a Question Time panel in the morning session with John 
The Question Time panelMcClelland CBE, Chairman of NQC Ltd, Mark Roscrow, Assistant Director of Shared Services Procurement within NHS Wales; Simon McCann, Partner (Procurement & Projects) Morgan Cole LLP, Nick Sullivan, Head of Policy and Capability at Value Wales, and Ian Mowatt, Interim Director, North Wales Procurement Partnership (NWPP). The session was chaired by Welsh newscaster and presenter, Rhun Ap Iorwerth.
The expert panel answered a variety of different questions relating to Welsh public procurement from the audience, and from those posted during the online registration process. Several of these were put directly to Professor Cahill, including those by the private sector asking how their companies could compete for public sector contracts.
In the afternoon session Professor Cahill was accompanied by Gary Clifford, Winning in Tendering Project Manager, and Ceri Evans, Winning in Tendering Senior Supplier & Procurement Specialist. All three were invited to take centre stage at Venue Cymru’s Main Hall in delivering an expert master class entitled 'Raising Standards: The Winning in Tendering Review Service'. The workshop discussed common weaknesses in tender designs and suppliers’ tender responses, while also providing practical advice on how to overcome them. The team also addressed the up skilling of suppliers in Wales in order to compete nationally and internationally.
The team concluded their session by presenting details of the free training and skills opportunities available through the Winning in Tendering project’s Tender Review Service, and its new EU Tendering Passport. In passing comment about such initiatives by the INTEREG funded project, Dyfed Edwards, Leader of Gwynedd County Council, described the services offered by the Winning in Tendering team at Bangor University as the “place to go to learn about innovative procurement practices.”
To find out more about the Winning in Tendering project, the Tender Review Service, or the EU Tendering Passport please visit www.icps.bangor.ac.uk, or alternatively contact Ms Rebecca Hughes, Project Administrator, on 01248 382907.
Publication date: 11 October 2012