The buyer and SSIP:
benefits for all
Lesley Smith
Business Support Manager (Corporate ServicesProcurement & Supplies) at Cardiff Council
Agenda
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Background
The challenges for buyers
Accreditation process to date
The journey towards SSIP
Benefits for buyers
Benefits for suppliers
The way forward
Useful links
Biography
• Over 20 years public sector experience in
Local Government Finance
• Diverse range of areas
– Education, Internal Audit, Project Management,
Procurement
• Currently working as a Business Support
Manager in Procurement
– main areas of responsibility are spend analysis,
supplier assessment and project support
Cardiff Council
• Unitary authority since 1996
• Largest employer in Wales – 18,000
• Wide and diverse range of services including:
– Social Care, Highway Maintenance, Waste
Management, Housing, Culture, Leisure and Parks,
Regulatory Services etc
• All services provided rely on externally procured
goods, services and works
• External spend for 2009/10 in excess of £328 million
• Active supplier base of 10,000+ suppliers
• Process over 350,000 invoices pa
The challenges for buyers
• Legislation – relating to both health & safety and procurement
(e.g. H&S at work Act, EU Procurement Rules)
• Local policies and procedures - Councils’ H&S policy on
contractors / Contract Standing Order & Procurement Rules
• Different processes for above & below tender threshold
– Pre-qualification is part of the tender process
– Robust process required for below threshold procurements
• Process re-engineering (the way forward)
– Defining processes to ensure best use of resource for both
the buyer and the contractor
– Avoiding duplication
– Use of technology to assist the process
Accreditation Process to date
Timeline
Description
Notes / Reasons for change
2003/04
Centrally managed
directory of suppliers /
contractors implemented
(Alito) – ALL contractors
internally assessed
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Only suppliers /
contractors used by
Cardiff Council assessed
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April
2009
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Alito used as supplier/tender/contract
management system since 2003/04
Used to select suppliers to tender/quote where
the tender opportunity is not advertised
Much higher volumes following introduction of etendering and the credit crunch (3,900 records
at January 2008 – over 9,600 in January 2011 )
Drain on resource for both buyers and
contractors
o no guarantee that the contractor would be
used (in 2008/09 only a third of companies
registered had actually been used)
o No resource available to assess / re-assess
all applications
The Journey towards SSIP
Timeline
Description
Notes / Reasons for change
July 2009
Stage one H&S
assessment by an SSIP
member (or EU
equivalent) introduced
for new contractors
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ALL contractors advised
that Stage one
assessment by an SSIP
member (or EU
equivalent) is required
from April 2011
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Dec 2010
April 2011 Contractors not assessed
by an SSIP member (or
EU equivalent) revert to
“approval required” on
directory
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To comply with legal and statutory obligations
Process is resource intensive
Health & Safety schemes may have different
standards (all SSIP members have to meet the
same standard)
Fully supported by H&S team within the
Council
Will apply to contractors used by Cardiff
Council
Will need valid assessment at point of award –
not needed at point of tender
To avoid delays in placing orders and/or payment,
contractors need to ensure assessment is up to
date and contact the Procurement team to update
their profile
The Journey towards SSIP
Feedback so far
• Positive feedback – contractors can see the benefits
• Transition smoother than expected (many
contractors have already been assessed by an SSIP
member)
Issues Raised by contractors
• Diverse range of services provided by our contractors
– does this just apply to construction?
– are all areas covered by the current forum
members?
• ConstructionLine
– Confusion as Health and Safety not assessed
Benefits for buyers
• Reduces risk for buyers
– As buyers can be assured that contractors have
met the Core Criteria standard set (and supported
by the HSE) for the initial or stage one health and
safety assessment
– Up to date information, as status can be checked
at point of use
• Saves time with pre-qualification
– A tick in the box
• Reduces duplication for both buyers and contractors
– As resource becomes more scarce, it’s the
common sense approach
• Buyers can focus resource on the project/job specific
assessments
Benefits for suppliers
• Mutual recognition
– Member of one, member of all
• Cost saving
– Contractors do not have to join multiple schemes
• Reduces duplication
– Timesaving
– Better use of resource
• Wider adoption of the SSIP Forum will lead to
increased opportunities for SME’s
– Being actively promoted by Cardiff Council
through the Welsh Purchasing Consortium (WPC)
Benefits for all
We want to help you to win business
Help us to help you!
The way forward
• Using technology to help
– Alito links to Constructionline and CHAS
– Eagerly awaiting use of the SSIP portal
• rollout to all staff within the Council to check
the health and safety status of a contractor at
point of use (please sign up if you haven’t done
so already!)
• The future
– Using Sell2Wales (www.sell2wales.co.uk) as
supplier portal and pre-qualification database
• use of SQuID to assist with duplication (current
link to Constructionline and proposed link to
SSIP portal)
Useful Links
Cardiff Council website: www.cardiff.gov.uk
click on Business and Procurement
or direct at www.cardiff.gov.uk/procurement
Alito (corporate supplier directory):
http://appswales.alito.co.uk
Sell2Wales:
www.sell2wales.co.uk
SSIP: Supply chain benefits
Professor Rudi Klein
Chief Executive at the
Specialist Engineering Contractors’ (SEC) Group
SSIP:
The Key Supply Chain Benefits
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Removal of massive cost of duplication
Helps create level playing field
Promotes and widens basic competence
3rd party assessment by SSIP Scheme
offers commercial advantage.
BUT
• Much work needs to be done to realise
the full benefits of SSIP.
“Many companies fail to ask for or
recognise 3rd party H&S accredited
schemes and as a result too much
time is spent completing these
forms.”
(Electrical contractor in Scotland)
2010 Metra Martech Report
for SEC Group
Annual Cost to firms in
SEC Group Associations
Almost £40m!
(Report based on survey which
attracted 606 responses)
Cost Breakdown
• Cost of subscriptions
• Cost of paperwork*
£10.4m
£28.1m
* Firms spend on average 9 person days
p.a. on form filling: 63,000 days p.a.!
Processing each response
to a questionnaire costs
clients £300.
Source: Constructionline
Firms Can Challenge Waste
I’ve been invited to pre-qualify under the
GET RICH QUICK scheme. I would be
grateful if you would kindly confirm:
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Is it a SSIP Scheme (SSIP is approved by
Government/HSE)?
Is the Scheme CDM ACOP compliant?
Is the Scheme annually audited by HSE?
Clients Can Challenge Waste
(Inc. lead contractors & sub contractors)
• Do a cost-benefit analysis of processing
responses to questionnaires (whether done
in-house or outsourced)?
• NIEP/Audit Commission (until disbanded at
end of 2012) to encourage local authorities to
use SSIP schemes; auditors should challenge
non-use of SSIP.
Experience Of Working With
CDM 2007
SEC Group Report to HSE (Oct 2010)
40% of firms had not been asked to
demonstrate compliance with the ACOP
core criteria either on any project or on
less than 10% of projects.
Public Sector Should Set
An Example
• All constructions firms to demonstrate they
meet CDM core criteria
• Clients to insist that tier 1 contractors (and
tier 2s etc) require such demonstration
• Clients/tier 1s etc to accept that assessment
by SSIP member is acceptable evidence of
meeting the core criteria
• HSE inspectorate to require evidence of core
criteria compliance.
“Failure is not fatal,
but failure to change might be.”
(John Wooden, US Basketball Player 1910-2010)
A final word
Simon Mantle
Chair, Safety Schemes in Procurement (SSIP) Forum
Panel Questions
Chair, Paul Reeve
Head of Health and Safety and Environment at
the Electrical Contractors’ Association (ECA)