1. New Advisors Conference 2016
The National Procurement Group – how can it help you?
Nick Jenni, National Procurement Officer
Good morning to you. My name is Nick Jenni.
In this session we are going to consider briefly the other side of the coin:
Not the question of giving, nor fundraising, nor generosity.
But the question of the good stewardship of those funds, when they are raised.
National Procurement Group

2. New Advisors Conference 2016
The National Procurement Group
Well, how can it help you?
…..but before I start. I want to throw open this session as a bit of a conversation.
A few questions to get us going:
Do you think how the funds are spent by parishes has any bearing on people’s willingness to give?
If so, how?
Are you already looking at how parishes purchase things and purchase services?
Are you already looking at how your diocese purchases things and purchase services?
DISCUSSION
…….well, thank you.
Please feel free to comment, or ask a question, at any point.
National Procurement Group

3. National Procurement Group – how can it help you?
All numbers in £ millions.
This excludes salaries and wages, and excludes parish share
In 2014 parishes spent £480 million on things - that excludes parish share and it excludes salaries and wages.
So, that’s an average spend on things per parish of £40,000.
That’s an average. So in smaller parishes it will be less, and in large parishes more, much more, obviously.
The spending is on all kinds of necessary things. Things like electricity, gas and oil. Things like insurance, and stationery, and IT equipment, software and paper, and inks, and telecoms and connectivity, building maintenance, repairs, new buildings and re-ordering, professional services, cleaning, travel and much more besides.
National Procurement Group

4. National Procurement Group – how can it help you?
Utilities
£42 million
Other goods and services
£228 million
Insurance
£40 million
Building work
£170 million
All numbers in £ millions.
This excludes salaries and wages, and excludes parish share
Another way of looking at this is to identify some major parts of that £480 million in spending: utility costs (electricity, gas, water and so on) cost £42 million, insurance involves spending of around £40 million, building costs take up £170 million, and everything else comes to £228 million.
National Procurement Group

5. National Procurement Group – how can it help you?
Procurement is not the priority for a parish
Focus in the parish is on funding mission
Parishes are run by trustees (Incumbent, churchwardens, PCC)
Availability of skills and time for procurement is often low
Now let’s forget money for a bit and look at some other numbers and facts:
Did you know that there are 12,000 Church of England parishes in 41 dioceses?
And over 15,000 churches?
And of course, as you know, their care and operations are mostly run by volunteers, sometimes by incumbents.
Many have no experience or knowledge of procurement.
And little time to devote to it.
National Procurement Group

6. National Procurement Group – how can it help you?
Οἰκονόμος
Stewardship is not just about fundraising
Oikonomos
Managing resources
After yesterday you will be far more knowledgeable than me about the theology of stewardship.
From the Greek word οἰκονόμος, literally household manager, but which for the last 400 years or so we have translated as steward in the new testament and in teaching; we have also derived words like economy and economical.
And a simple point: when givers can see that what they contribute is spent wisely and carefully, that gives them the confidence they need to be generous.
Supporting parish volunteers and administrators to make good stewardship of spending a reality, when there are so many other calls on their time and other priorities, is what gave birth to the National Procurement Group.
National Procurement Group

7. Who are the National Procurement Group?
The mission of the National Procurement Group is to provide trustworthy and good-value services collaboratively to parishes, thus enabling good stewardship of these resources and of the earth’s, and to recognise the value of parish staff and volunteers’ time.
The national procurement group is made up of 5 diocesan representatives, two from the national church including John Preston as it is part of the broader stewardship services, and some members with special expertise.
The national procurement officers attend its 4 or five meetings a year.
National Procurement Group

8. The aims Objectives Save £10 million per year by providing
contracts offering value-for-money goods and services
resources and advisory materials on procurement
to save time in the parishes and make life easier.
The national procurement group set itself the objective of helping parishes to achieve savings of £10 million every year.
It recognised that where it could, it would negotiate nationally value-for-money contracts for a range of goods and services, and make them available through a web-based service, called Parish Buying.
It would also make available, on Parish Buying and elsewhere, a range of buying guides, for these products but also for products and services it cannot offer, such as insurance services and most services connected with building.
National Procurement Group

9. The three pillars of what the National Procurement Service is doing
Parish Buying
Electricity & Gas
Office products
Furniture, IT, Telecoms
See website for more
Insurance
Insurance buying guide – seeking two quotations
Process for diocesan schemes
Capital Projects
Parishes manage projects better
Control scope and avoid overspend.
We saw earlier that insurance involves spending of around £40 million, building costs take up £170 million, and everything else comes to £270 million.
These main areas gave the group a clear sense of direction on where to focus.
You will notice that electricity and gas – energy – top the list. That is no coincidence, as it is usually one of the three top spending items in every parish and it is hard work to compare and get good supply deals. In fact, utility companies have huge numbers of different tariffs, with different terms and conditions. Parish Buying’s energy basket and other fixed-term deals offer a managed service to give parishes a good value supply.
£270 million
£40 million
£170 million
National Procurement Group

10. Parish Buying www.parishbuying.org.uk 0800 368 0887
The Parish Buying service is designed for parishes to use – over 10,000 people from parishes have registered so far. Over 2,000 parishes use the energy basket which is a managed product for gas and electricity. We estimate that parishes saved over £1 million in 2015 from all the contracts offered by Parish Buying.
But many, many more could make savings.
The service is web-based but has telephone customer support if parishes want to discuss their needs.
We are in the process of upgrading the website design, to make it more user-friendly (and responsive to handheld devices). This will be launched in the next few months.
National Procurement Group

11. Parish Buying
“We’d certainly recommend Parish Buying for other cathedrals and churches – it’s just amore economically sensible option. Their purchasing power on behalf of 10,000 members is significant so they’re offering a better deal than probably anyone else offering those kinds of deals.” Peter Sanders, Portsmouth Cathedral
Parishes can have confidence that the goods and services they purchase through Parish Buying will always represent excellent value compared to what’s generally available. It will be regularly reviewed and managed, and on fair terms.
Can we guarantee that prices on the Parish Buying website, or in the Energy Basket, will always be the best prices available in the market, at any time?
No.
If a parish has the time available, and the expertise, then of course they can and should compare alternatives. That is good stewardship. But they can be sure that using Parish Buying’s contracts for their parish’s needs will mean that they are good stewards of their parish funds.
National Procurement Group

12. Insurance Two insurance companies – Ecclesiastical and Trinitas
Insurance buying guide
Support for dioceses
Now, insurance
Parishes have been used over many years to a position where there was only one specialist insurer available to them.
Since last year, there have been two. Ecclesiastical and Trinitas. Best practice in procurement, and good stewardship, is to seek quotes from both insurers and compare them before renewing the parish policy.
Many dioceses operate group schemes, and the parish buying service can also offer support to any diocese wanting to explore its options in a two-company environment.
National Procurement Group

13. Capital projects Some key risks of building projects
(even quite small ones)
We didn’t set out right
It cost a lot more than we were expecting
People aren’t responding the way we hoped
Some things were badly delayed
We were too optimistic
Apart from Eleanor’s workshops on legacies and capital campaigns, we now also offer a workshop on planning and managing a building in your church or church hall.
It lasts a day, and it aims to equip parishes with some basic skills around scoping a project, planning, good procurement, scope management, governance, permissions and faculties, budgeting and some other techniques to avoid some key risks, such as are listed on this slide. The workshops can be run in diocesan locations.
Materials from the workshops are made available online, and we plan to expand what is available online both to people who have attended and to those who prefer only to go online for their information.
National Procurement Group

14. New Advisors Conference 2016
The National Procurement Group
Well, how can it help you – and how can you help us?
…..and now before I end shall we throw open this concluding session as a bit of a conversation? There may be a few questions or thoughts you have, please voice them!
A few questions to get us going:
Expanding the use of Parish Buying contracts is important in achieving savings for parishes – do you know what procurement policies are used by PCCs?
Getting feedback about Parish Buying from parishes (products they do offer, don’t offer) is an important step to making the service more responsive. What have parishes told you?
Did a parish get two quotations for their last insurance renewal?
Do you have parishes considering capital projects? Then consider the workshops which are available ?
National Procurement Group