1. Partnership for Procurement 24th April 2019
Collaborate to Win 
Partnership for Procurement 
24th April 2019 
An Introduction to Tendering and Collaboration 
Good morning and welcome to the Partnership for Procurement Collaborate to Win Breakfast event, and thank you for attending today. My name is Claire McLaughlin– I help coordinate the P4P programme across Scotland 
Great turnout shows that there is a real appetite in the third sector to consider tendering for contracts, and with working with other organisations to access opportunities.
The purpose of today’s session is to explore working in partnership and how collaborating with other organisations can be mutually beneficial (win/win). 
Today is a fantastic opportunity to network with other like-minded organisations as well as giving you a chance to meet face to face with P4P.
Can I also take this opportunity to thank all of the event partners involved in putting this event together – Pamela Roccio, Voluntary Sector Gateway West Lothian whose support has made today possible
Some house keeping toilets, firealarms

2. About P4P
P4P is an initiative, managed by Senscot, which supports social enterprises and the third sector to:
better access public contracts and other contracting opportunities
build partnerships and consortia.
P4P is a national initiative which supports social enterprises and third sector organisations to better access public contracts and other contracting opportunities and to build partnerships and consortia.
The programme is managed by Senscot but is a partnership between Senscot, Social Firms Scotland, the Scottish Community Alliance and Cooperative Development Scotland.
Senscot is the national organisation which supports the development of social enterprises in Scotland.

3. Background
Established as a direct result of the Scottish Government’s 10 year Social Enterprise Strategy which highlighted the government’s aim of increasing the number of social enterprises delivering public services. 
The Scottish Government believes that social enterprises and third sector organisations can achieve much more through collaboration rather than working alone.
Background
The public sector in Scotland spends in excess of £11 billion each year purchasing a wide variety of goods and services.
In recent years there have been a number of changes to procurement law, providing the public sector with some of the tools they require to help third sector organisations to bid for contracts. This came about through the Procurement Reform Act of 2014.
The Act requires public bodies to consider how their procurement activity can improve the economic, social and environmental wellbeing of the authority’s area and facilitate the involvement of third sector organisations in the process. This is known as the ‘sustainable procurement duty’.
But despite this progress, according to the 2017 social enterprise census, the majority of social enterprises (80%) still do not bid and win contracts with the public sector. Most remain small – operating with an annual income of £100,000. 
The Scottish Government’s 10 year social enterprise strategy highlighted the government’s aim of increasing the number and range of social enterprises involved in the delivery of the country’s public services. The Scottish Government believes that social enterprises can achieve much more by working together.
Benefits of collaboration can include securing additional resources, creating efficiencies, better outcomes for clients, improving long term sustainability, and giving you a stronger united voice when approaching funders/commissioners.
P4P was established as a direct result of the Scottish Government’s 10 year Social Enterprise Strategy, specifically the 3 year action plan ‘Building a Sustainable Social Enterprise Sector in Scotland’ covering the years

4. Partnership & Procurement Support
Collaborative approach to tendering
Increased skills and capacity
Increased sustainability
To deliver practical support to social enterprises and enterprising third sector organisations with the intention that they are………………..
…………..in turn resulting in………………
It’s not about growth – it’s about sustainability, which may or may not mean growth.
Procurement may not be suitable for all, partnership working is arguably relevant for every organisation

5. P4P Support 
1-1 support to develop partnerships or consortia – exploring different models of consortia; providing practical support to build effective consortia/partnership agreements.
1-1 support with writing tenders – for example, reviewing organisations’ tender documents or help to prepare a ‘tender library’ which enable you to build a bank of information relevant to your organisation and experience  
Support with carrying out research and evaluation in relation to procurement. 
Events and workshops on collaboration and tender development
P4P website and online resources including the P4P ten- stage- guide to procurement, guidance documents and templates to support organisations’ procurement journey and collaboration.

6. Procurement Opportunities
Public sector spending on goods and services across Scotland amounts to £11 billion each year.
All contracts worth over £50,000 must be advertised on Public Contracts Scotland. But there are also opportunities to win lower value contracts.
If you do not want to bid as a lead organisation there may be an opportunity to be a subcontractor.
Background
The public sector in Scotland spends in excess of £11 billion each year purchasing a wide variety of goods and services.
In recent years there have been a number of changes to procurement law, providing the public sector with some of the tools they require to help third sector organisations to bid for contracts. This came about through the Procurement Reform Act of 2014.
The Act requires public bodies to consider how their procurement activity can improve the economic, social and environmental wellbeing of the authority’s area and facilitate the involvement of third sector organisations in the process. This is known as the ‘sustainable procurement duty’.
But despite this progress, according to the 2017 social enterprise census, the majority of social enterprises (80%) still do not bid and win contracts with the public sector. Most remain small – operating with an annual income of £100,000. 
The Scottish Government’s 10 year social enterprise strategy highlighted the government’s aim of increasing the number and range of social enterprises involved in the delivery of the country’s public services. The Scottish Government believes that social enterprises can achieve much more by working together.
Benefits of collaboration can include securing additional resources, creating efficiencies, better outcomes for clients, improving long term sustainability, and giving you a stronger united voice when approaching funders/commissioners.
P4P was established as a direct result of the Scottish Government’s new 10 year Social Enterprise Strategy, specifically the 3 year action plan ‘Building a Sustainable Social Enterprise Sector in Scotland’ covering the years

7. Collaborate to Win For Collaboration Against Collaboration
Split into 2 teams 
10 mins - discuss reasons to collaborate or reasons not 
5 mins - feedback

8. Why Collaborate? Better able to compete for contracts/bigger contracts
Financial savings through shared overheads and development costs
Diversify your sources of income
A wider geographic reach for your services and/or products
Sharing risks
An ability to network and learn from each other
It could mean you have a stronger, united voice
Why Collaborate?
Read to slide 
Should be around 9am

9. Forcefield Analysis 
10 mins example on board, 10 mins in groups, 5 mins each group feedback
Finish by 9:30

10. P4P Collaboration Toolkit
Developed to support organisations who are considering working together.
You can use the toolkit as a quick ‘go to’ guide to collaboration and to track your progress.
It has been prepared with three phases that follow the typical lifecycle of a collaborative project.
P4P Collaboration Toolkit 
Available on-line  along with our survey 
The toolkit was developed as a guide for organisations who are considering working closer together and thinking about forming a new partnership or consortium.
Organisations can use the guide to track their progress and as a checklist. It has been prepared with three phases that follow the typical lifecycle of a collaborative project.

11. Phase 1 - Establish 
Collaboration Toolkit online survey  & Follow up survey
The toolkit can be used in conjunction with an online survey we’ve developed which can be used to self-evaluate your progress. Once you complete and submit the online survey P4P will generate an Excel report and dashboard based on your responses. You can then complete a follow-up survey at any time thereafter to measure distance travelled.

12. Phase 1 - Establish
Assess your organisations readiness for collaboration 
Do you have a long term vision for your organisation 
Are you ready to share information with partner organisations in an open and honest manner?
Do you have a good understanding of what collaboration involves?

13. Phase 1 - Establish Identify Potential Partners Think About:
Compatibility 
Strengths and Weaknesses 
Shared Aims 
Resources
Charitable objectives
Culture
Governance
Organisational Structure
Resources
Working practices

14. SWOT Analysis Strengths What do we do better than anyone else?
What makes you unique?
What do others see as your strengths?
Weaknesses
Where could you improve?
What should you avoid?
Opportunities
Government policy
Do people have a need?
Changes in technology
Threats
What challenges do you face?
What are your competitors doing?
Technology issues?
Financial issues?

15. What is a ‘consortium’?
Definition – two or more organisations working together to deliver services
What is a consortium?
We define a consortium as a collaboration of two or more organisations who are working together to deliver services or products. This often involves tendering for contracts.
Still confused? Check out this diagram.
Think about collaboration as a roadmap. At one end you have ‘networks’ – a loose grouping of organisations who deliver similar services or products, such as a membership organisation. From a network you might have a cluster of organisations in a certain sector or geography– think Silicon Valley in the US, or perhaps the video game industry in Dundee. From within a network or cluster you may then develop a relationship with some other organisations, which could in turn lead to some joint working on an informal basis. From this you may then decide to form a consortium where you see a particular market opportunity, such as a tender you could bid for jointly. 
As you can imagine there are in fact different ways of going about this – and each have their pros and cons.  Just now I’m going to provide some detail on the models you could use, including their pros and cons, and providing some case study examples where I can.

16. Informal network Informal network
An informal network is a loose consortium where organisations come together to bid for contracts but there is no new legal structure and no organisation leads.
A variation on this model is where you could opt to have a rotating lead organisation if you are bidding for multiple contracts. This means depending on the nature or location of the contract a different partner organisation leads the consortium.
Pros
Members retain total independence and control and manage their own contracts – this means they can retain their own strong identity as a result 
It spreads the risk between the members of the consortium 
Often a first step to a formally constituted consortium – it is a way of testing out the concept prior to formalising the structures and establishing a new legal body, or ‘super provider’ consortium 
Cons 
There is no legal entity for commissioners to contract with, so they cannot hold contracts. This means that each individual partner organisation will have a direct link with the buyer organisation. Buyers may find this hard to manage 
It does not allow for coordinated service delivery as well as each of the consortium members are managing their own contracts 

17. Managing Agent Managing agent
This is where an existing organisation bids for contracts and then finds subcontractors to deliver the service. They do not deliver any of the service provision themselves, instead they specialise in providing a contract winning and management solution. 
Think of it a bit like a shell company – it’s there to manage the contract and act as the main contact for the buyer. 
The lead organisation will be the only organisation who holds a contract directly with the buyer. 

18. Case Study – 3SC
3SC bids for and manages contracts on behalf of third sector organisations
It manages the bidding process and builds supply chains of local organisations allowing smaller third sector providers to compete for and deliver large contracts
Operates in the employability, criminal justice and disabilities sectors
England and Wales only
Case Study – 3SC
3SC, which stands for Third Sector Consortium, bids for and manages public contracts on behalf of third sector organisations. It manages the bidding process and builds supply chains of local organisations allowing smaller third sector providers to compete for and deliver large contracts. 
3SC has built supply chains and worked with more than 550 different delivery organisations across 16 programmes in the welfare to work/employment, young people, criminal justice, and disabilities sectors. 
One thing to note is that it currently does not operate in Scotland and there is not a similar organisation here. 

19. Case study – CRNS Reuse Consortium
The CRNS Reuse Consortium comprises 17 accredited furniture reuse members.
The consortium supports local authority areas in providing 34 key household items through the Reuse Lot of the Scotland Excel Domestic Furniture and Furnishings Framework.
Currently supplying 3 local authorities: Fife, Aberdeen and Renfrewshire.
Case Study – CRNS Reuse Consortium
The Community Resources Network Scotland (CRNS) is the national membership body for community organisations managing waste resources at a local level through recycling, reuse, composting, waste reduction and waste education activities.  
In 2016 CRNS decided to bid for a place on the Scotland Excel framework for domestic furniture which local authorities can use for purchasing furniture for domestic properties. The framework also covered reuse goods which provided CRNS members with an opportunity to bid as a consortium.
CRNS took the lead in bidding for the contract and is also the lead organisation for delivery. 
CRNS consulted its membership to find out who would be interested in joining the consortium. 
Once the partnership structure was finalised CRNS took responsibility for co-ordinating all meetings and documentation required for the tender submission. A steering group was formed which agreed the consortium’s pricing strategy and ensured that all consortium members had in place the required processes and procedures. 
Fife Council, Aberdeen City Council, and Renfrewshire Council have all opted to purchase reuse furniture through the Scotland Excel framework. Local authorities can raise an order through a bespoke system CRNS has developed where items for supply are contained within a catalogue on this system.
Key success factors have included:
• Dedicated resource at CRNS helped keep momentum within both CRNS and with the CRNS membership, as well as collating the documentation required to bid and ensuring organisations had in place the necessary policies and procedures 
• External support from sources including Senscot, who helped put together the initial Memorandum of Understanding, and a consultant who supported CRNS with the tender submission 
• CRNS, as a membership organisation, was an obvious choice as lead organisation for the consortium 
• Pre-engagement with both Scotland Excel and existing strong relationships with some local authorities. 

20. Managing Provider Managing provider
‘Managing provider’ is similar to managing agent but the lead body also delivers some of the service and is the main contact for the commissioner.  
This is a common model used for consortia, especially for a live contract opportunity where there are restrictions on the amount of time you have to develop a partnership because you are working towards an immovable tender deadline. Sometimes as a result you are forced into a managing provider model when if you had time to develop a consortium properly you would opt for an alternative. 
Managing Provider - Pros: 
Similar to managing agent in that a lead organisation can bid for the contract on your behalf which means if you are not the lead then it will be less labour intensive and time-consuming 
The lead organisation is an existing organisation with a track record and is already known to commissioners 
There will hopefully be an existing infrastructure that you can tap into if you are a subcontractor 
Again if you are a subcontractor you will not be responsible for managing the contract if successful, or with speaking with commissioners/buyer organisations. 
Managing Provider - Cons 
The lead organisation has sole legal accountability for contracts and bears all the risk 
The lead partner could potentially bring the provision in-house 
Loss of control/autonomy if you are a subcontractor 
Financially the lead provider will most likely charge a management fee which will mean you have less money to spend on delivering the contract 
Loss of identity – again you may feel that you do not get the recognition you deserve for delivering the contract since you are not the prime contractor 

21. Super Provider Super Provider
Under the super provider model, organisations come together to collaborate to set up what we would call a formal consortium, a separate legal structure which embodies collective ownership and control. Through this structure, many separate providers effectively become one large provider. 
Core management functions of the consortium are carried out through a central support unit, leaving the providers to deliver frontline services through a subcontract. This is also known as a ‘hub and spoke’ model. 
Super Provider - Pros 
It is owned and run by the member organisations which means that it avoids the problem of having to find a lead organisation, and with one organisation dominating the consortium as a result 
It protects individual members from risk 
Acts as a single point of contact for commissioners and clients, making it a more attractive proposition for the buyer when writing the bid 
It could mean you have more bargaining power collectively – a single united voice 
Super Provider - Cons 
It can be difficult to prove your track record during the early stages of the consortium’s development. This can give you difficulties when completing the ESPD document as a consortium – the buyer cannot carry out a financial assessment of the super provider consortium because there may be no funding attached yet to the organisation 
Significant development funding and time may be required during the early stages - this is not a model you can often use when responding to live tender opportunity due to the time required in setting up a new legal body 
Setting up a new legal body will require some administration and ongoing maintenance going forward – so you could view it as giving you more work. The new legal body will need a board and will need to submit returns and accounts 

22. P4P website www.p4p.org.uk Upcoming events
Current/future tenders and partnership opportunities
Resources database
P4P Toolkits
Ready for Business Third Sector Register
P4P Website
We have recently re-launched the P4P website – which is
The website is a fantastic resource for the sector and has a range of useful information, and resources. This includes:
Details of upcoming events 
Information on current and future tender opportunities
A new page which allows you to post a notice that you’re looking for partners for a particular project or upcoming tender
An extensive resources database which includes case studies, guidance documents, templates, the 10 Stage Guide to Procurement and the P4P Collaboration Toolkit

23. Thank you for listening – any questions?