What does it take to build an award-winning procurement function?

We asked Liz Lucas, Head of Procurement at Caerphilly County Borough Council, to share the thinking, decisions and hard lessons behind one of Wales's most recognised procurement operations.

Multiple Welsh GO Awards and National GO Awards nominations don't happen by accident - they're the result of 42 years of deliberate, strategic work that has taken the function from administrative support to a seat at the executive table.

Insight 01:  

Know what you are buying - and why:

Liz's first real lesson in procurement came when she was asked to procure building materials she knew nothing about. Rather than placing the order blindly, she engaged with the trades, asked questions, and built expertise. This principle - that procurement professionals must understand the operational reality of what they buy - has underpinned everything Caerphilly has built since.

Actionable takeaway: Rotate your buyers across categories. Encourage site visits, supplier days and cross-functional collaboration. Procurement knowledge is not just about contracts - it is about substance.

Insight 02:  

Build a team shaped like a triangle:

Caerphilly's procurement team is structured around three pillars: strategic buyers and senior procurement officers, data analysts who interrogate spend, and Supplier Relationship Officers who support the supply chain. At the centre sits data - the intelligence that drives every decision. This triangular model ensures the function can act strategically, analytically, and relationally at the same time.

Actionable takeaway: Audit your team structure. If you only have buyers, you are missing the data and relationship capabilities that make procurement truly strategic. Consider where SRO-type roles could create value.

Insight 03:  

Create the Supplier Relationship Officer role: 

The SRO role is perhaps Caerphilly's most distinctive and replicable innovation. Unlike traditional category managers focused on internal stakeholders, SROs are outward-facing - their job is to help local SMEs understand what the council buys, how the tendering process works, and how to bid competitively. This approach enabled three small cleaning companies to jointly bid and win a contract they could not have won individually.

Actionable takeaway: Map the barriers that prevent local SMEs from bidding for your contracts. Consider creating a supplier-facing capability that actively removes those barriers - not just as a tick-box exercise, but as a genuine commitment to local economic regeneration.

Insight 04:  

Choose technology that grows with you:

Caerphilly chose Proactis over 25 years ago not just for the product, but for the relationship. The platform has evolved from a basic P2P system to a full source-to-pay environment. What made the partnership work was not just the initial technology - it was the shared commitment to evolve together. Proactis listened, configured, and adapted as Caerphilly's needs and goals changed.

Actionable takeaway: When evaluating procurement technology, assess the vendor's willingness and ability to grow with you. The right platform for today may not serve you in five years. Choose a partner, not just a product.

Insight 05:  

Social value is a way of working, not a compliance requirement:

Long before social value became a legislative requirement, Caerphilly was embedding it into procurement practice. They set aside percentages of contracts for local businesses, enabled joint bidding for SMEs, and created community benefit clauses. The Wales Wellbeing of Future Generations Act formalised what Caerphilly was already doing - and now decarbonisation and supply chain carbon footprinting are becoming standard requirements.

Actionable takeaway: Audit how social value currently manifests in your procurement practice. Are community benefit clauses embedded from the outset? Are local SMEs genuinely supported to bid? Is environmental sustainability measured, not just mentioned?

Insight 06:  

Data is the centre of everything:

Caerphilly's ability to deliver award-winning procurement is inseparable from their investment in data capability. They have data analysts embedded within the procurement team - not as a shared resource elsewhere in the organisation, but as core members of the procurement function. The ability to interrogate spend, identify patterns, and make evidence-based decisions has been a consistent competitive advantage.

Actionable takeaway: Assess whether your procurement team has genuine data capability. Can you interrogate your own spend data without relying on finance or IT? If not, building this capability should be an immediate priority.

Insight 07:  

Technology should augment, not replace, human judgment:

Caerphilly have tools that have cut down work that previously took a full day to now under an hour. But Liz is clear: technology is the enabler, people are the engine. Technology cannot replace the human judgment needed to interpret data, manage relationships, and communicate procurement value to senior leadership.

Actionable takeaway: Identify one manual, high-volume procurement task - contract review, compliance checking, spend categorisation - where technology could create significant time savings. Pilot and measure. Do not automate relationship management.

Insight 08:  

Predictive analytics will define the next phase:

Caerphilly is now investing in predictive analytics capabilities that will allow them to model future spend patterns - not just report on historical expenditure. This shifts procurement from a reactive function (responding to demand) to a proactive one (anticipating demand, managing supply market risk, informing budget planning). Liz sees this as the most significant frontier in procurement evolution.

Actionable takeaway: Review your current analytics capability. Are you reporting on the past, or modelling the future? Engage your technology partner in a conversation about predictive analytics - the data you already hold is likely sufficient to begin building that capability.

Insight 09:  

Earn the executive seat - Do not expect it:

Caerphilly's procurement function now sits at the executive leadership table, with all major procurements requiring sign-off from Liz and the Executive Director. But this was not given - it was earned. It required years of consistent demonstration of value through KPIs, outcomes, and a willingness to be knocked down and get back up. The language of procurement had to change: from process and compliance to outcomes and value.

Actionable takeaway: Map your current relationship with executive leadership. Can you articulate the value procurement delivers in financial and non-financial terms? Build a quarterly outcomes report and present it to leadership consistently - even when it is difficult.

Insight 10:  

Resilience is the most underrated procurement skill:

Liz was told at one point that procurement was just about pencils and pens - that it was not a strategic function and never would be. She disagreed. And then she spent the next twenty-plus years proving it. The transformation of Caerphilly's procurement function required not just technical expertise but personal determination - the willingness to be underestimated, criticised, and overlooked, and still keep going.

Actionable takeaway: Reflect on where in your organisation procurement is still seen as administrative rather than strategic. Rather than accepting that narrative, build the evidence base to challenge it. Resilience combined with results is what changes institutional culture.