Recent posts
It's never been more important to ensure our supply chains are competent and robust, so we can be confident of the quality and safety of our customers’ homes.
But we should also be aware of the economic and supply chain picture both in the UK and globally – otherwise how can we expect to select, write contracts for, and manage the risks with those who operate within it?
We know instability is altering global supply chains. Unpredictable events such as wars, increasing costs, and economic and political uncertainty are some of the factors creating challenges across what is a very integrated global web. Each weakened thread can compromise the web as a whole.
At home, the construction sector has been feeling the effects – labour costs have been rising and the availability of labour has been decreasing. Confidence in general is also being affected by uncertainty about budget announcements later this year.
But juxtapose this with other impacts in our sector and there are reasons for optimism. Under the Social and Affordable Homes Programme, £39bn over 10 years doubles current investment levels and has generated much-needed confidence for housing associations to plan and invest.
Notwithstanding that we have now welcomed a new housing secretary, the boost was much needed as we continue to drive forward.
To weather the current and future storms, procurement exercises and how we manage contracts need to build resilience, by focusing on innovation, efficiency and sustainability. The new Procurement Act is trying to help with that, with new flexible ways to tender, bespoke to each requirement.
But what happens when the signatures are dry is where opportunity lies. It’s about accomplished, commercial behaviours to ensure contracts perform – as well as having an awareness of what’s going on domestically and globally to help understand and manage risk.
We’re working hard at VIVID to ensure these skills are part of our culture, role-modelling the power of commercial skill by appointing specialists into key roles – demonstrating what can be achieved and providing expertise and support to our teams for the long term.
In terms of what role-modelling means, we’re looking to go further than just describing to teams why commercial skills are important – we’re looking to role model them by bringing in specialists to ‘walk the walk’.
Our sector can be inherently cautious. We know that in the week before the new act went live, there was a plethora of new tender notices published, in a clammer to do as much as possible under the ‘old rules’. And there’s long been a sense that in terms of making strides towards truly effective contract and supplier relationship management, we haven’t scratched the surface.
Driving the performance of our contracts should become a habit – creating lasting, collaborative and innovative partnerships with suppliers and contractors.
As a sector, if we go beyond scratching the surface, we can deliver even more for our customers.