Birmingham Community Healthcare transforms and automates its sourcing processes

Profile

Sector:
NHS, Public Sector

Tendering activity:
50 per annum

Operates in:
United Kingdom

Customer since:
2014

Objectives

  • Introduce a robust, flexible, fully-contained and auditable electronic sourcing platform, including automated scoring of pre-qualification questionnaires (PQQ) and online invitation to tender (ITT) evaluations.
  • Minimise the administrative burden for suppliers.
  • Remain compliant with statutory and local requirements.

How Proactis helped

  • Enabled the Trust to customise the system to meet public health sector organisations requirements.
  • Create a shared portal, minimising the requirements for suppliers to register in multiple locations or portals, with ongoing access to a national network.

Benefits

  • Procurement now has full assurances for both internal and external sourcing audits.
  • Improved sourcing efficiencies with links into TED.eu, Contracts Finder and Supplying2NHS.org to maximise the supplier market.
  • Facilitates 24/7 online evaluations.
We have been working in partnership with Proactis for several years, configuring the robust sourcing solution to meet our demands and provide efficiency and accuracy within a contained and controlled environment. It continues to be an important and essential tool with which we deliver high quality, effective and efficient procurement support to our Trust.

Birmingham Community Healthcare NHS FT
 

Profile

Birmingham Community Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust (BCHC NHS FT) provides high quality, accessible and responsive community and specialist services within Birmingham and the West Midlands.

The Trust delivers over 100 clinical services in people’s homes and in over 300 hospitals, health centres and clinics. It provides services for adults, children, people with learning disabilities, those with rehabilitation needs and dental services.
Birmingham Community Healthcare transforms and automates its sourcing processes

Objectives

BCHC NHS FT was looking for opportunities to further automate its sourcing processes, specifically around increasing performance, improving efficiency and meeting all statutory and local tendering requirements.

The Trust identified the need for a robust, flexible, efficient electronic tendering platform that included specific requirements such as automated scoring of PQQs and online ITT evaluations. The Trust was already using elements of Proactis Sourcing and took the logical step to unlock the full potential of the solution to fully automate online scoring of electronic evaluations through a fully contained, auditable portal.

The organisation wanted to make it easier for suppliers to bid effectively within reduced timeframes and minimise the administrative burden for suppliers, while ensuring compliance with statutory and local requirements.
Introduce a robust, flexible, fully-contained and auditable electronic sourcing platform

How Proactis helped

The Trust worked with Proactis to meet the exact needs of each public health sector organisation, benefitting from the highly configurable nature of Proactis Sourcing. This included ongoing access to a national network and shared portal to help minimise the need for suppliers to register in multiple locations / portals. The creation of a question library enabled suppliers to pre-populate and save responses to generic PQQ questions.

Proactis helped to shape the developments of the platform around the Trust’s specific needs by linking it to other NHS users and creating a national steering group where key personnel were able to share progress and learn from others.
Create a shared portal, minimising the requirements for suppliers to register in multiple locations or portals

Benefits

Proactis has provided the Trust with a solution that streamlines and standardises its sourcing processes with one, single, contained, highly effective sourcing system. The new robust and effective practices enable the Trust’s Procurement function to be sure that the sourcing process satisfies both internal and external audit requirements.

The links into key portals, including Contracts Finder and Supplying2NHS.org, increase the efficiency of internal Procurement practices, and the availability of 24/7 online evaluations by evaluation panel members streamlines the whole process - a big advantage in a fast paced and busy organisation.

Proactis has ensured that the solution has gone from strength to strength, providing greater automation in the Trust’s sourcing processes and online contract management.
Procurement now has full assurances for both internal and external sourcing audits.
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