Review of procurement function and implementation support
Sydney Water
Review of procurement function and implementation support
Grosvenor conducted a comprehensive review of Sydney Water’s procurement function. The review involved extensive consultation across the business, review of existing process and procedures and an assessment of procurement outcomes. Current practice was assessed against Grosvenor’s Procurement Better Practice Comparator to identify areas of strength as well as areas requiring improvement. The review resulted in a comprehensive report with detailed recommendations on areas requiring improvement covering:
- restructuring and creation of a single procurement function
- improvements to contract pricing and performance management models
- tailoring of procurement/contract templates and guidance to address services and maintenance contracts
- establishment of a category management approach for key services
- ongoing process improvements
- review of procurement and contract management systems and software
- increased professionalisation, competencies and skills for procurement and contract management staff.
The report was very well received with implementation commencing immediately. Grosvenor drafted a change management plan and acted as the independent project and change manager across all work streams. Grosvenor also provided further advice on specific aspects such as the introduction of category management.
Grosvenor also drafted a new suite of procurement and contract templates and guidance for procuring major services contracts. We then provided a peer or gateway review (Pink Slip Reviews) for major procurements on the procurement strategy before release of tender documentation to ensure aspects such as procurement planning, category management, pricing and incentive models had been adequately addressed.
Since this time Sydney Water has continued their procurement transformation, evolving from an organisation that was in the public eye for the wrong reasons (eg, procurement issues before the NSW Independent Commission Against Corruption) to an organisation that is now a regular case study at major Australian procurement conferences on successful transformation, and nominated for procurement awards.
At Grosvenor, we pride ourselves on offering clients tailored services to address your specific requirements, rather than taking a ‘one size fits all’ or a generic, ‘cookie cutter’ approach to our work.
This means that you, our clients, can expect us to:
- Continually refine objectives
- Seek clarity and consensus
- Avoid shortcuts and templates
- Adapt, be responsive and flexible
- Apply intellectual rigour at all levels
- Devise effective, practical and practicable measures to achieve outcomes.