The founder of the company which runs the national procurement portal for Wales is to share his views on innovation at Bangor University’s leading international annual procurement conference, Procurement Week, which this year takes place in Cardiff.
Tim Williams, managing director of electronic tendering provider Millstream, will also attend the 2014 Welsh National Procurement Awards in the city on March 21, which marks the end of Procurement Week.
Millstream runs Wales’ national e-procurement database, Sell2Wales – which handles tenders worth around £4.3billion annually - and the Scottish equivalent, Public Contract Scotland.
The Welsh and Scottish Governments are among a number of European public authorities which have the capability to now handle procurement electronically in order to save money and time and to comply with the latest EU legislation.
Around 400 delegates from all over Europe are expected to attend a wide range of Procurement Week events, and Tim will share the lessons Millstream has learned during his speech on innovation.
He said: “As the only company providing national public procurement websites for several European member states, we have been able to share experience we gained in Ireland, Norway and Scotland to deliver an effective and user-friendly service for the Welsh Government.
“I am looking forward to attending Procurement Week and talking about Sell2Wales and Public Contracts Scotland, as well as looking at the innovations we have planned for the websites to make them even more powerful and simpler to use.”
“The national portals have helped to standardise tendering processes into one online system for both purchasers in the public sector and private sector suppliers, which opens up opportunities for businesses while saving both time and money.”
Procurement Week is an annual event staged by Bangor University’s Institute for Competition and Procurement Studies (ICPS) to share knowledge about the latest procurement innovation strategies, law and policies from around the world.
Professor Dermot Cahll, Chair of the Institute for Competition and Procurement Studies said: “We are delighted to have someone of Tim Williams’ calibre to share his experience at Procurement Week. Millstream’s sponsorship of the ‘E-Procurement Award’ at the Welsh National Procurement Awards, which take place at the end of Procurement Week, will recognise and celebrate some exemplar National and International public procurement initiatives.”
The Welsh National Procurement Awards will be held on the evening of Friday, March 21, at Cardiff’s City Hall.
The awards ceremony aims to recognise leadership, excellence and experience in procurement and tendering, while celebrating the achievements of buyers and suppliers who continue to perform and drive innovation linked to public procurement.
Millstream is sponsoring the E-Procurement Award, which recognises best practice in the use of electronic procurement by public sector organisations or private sector organisations that are doing business with the public sector.
As well as operating procurement portals for national governments, Millstream runs the Tenders Direct website, which provides private companies with comprehensive information on new business opportunities from the public sector, such as the government, local authorities, emergency services, NHS trusts and the armed forces.
It also runs myTenders, a tender publication and management service used by more than 700 public organisations in the UK to submit fully compliant contract notices to the OJEU and Contracts Finder, as well as publicising them on the organisation’s own website.
It recently launched myTenders Norge, the Norwegian version of the service.
For more information about Bangor University’s Institute for Competition & Procurement Studies (ICPS) or Procurement Week, contact Becky Hughes on 01248 38207, or visit www.icps.bangor.ac.uk. For more information about the Welsh National Procurement Awards 2014, visit www.welshprocurementawards.org.uk