SOUTHEND Council has been crowned Procurement Team of the Year at this year’s National Government Opportunities (GO) Excellence in Public Procurement Awards which celebrate the very best of the public sector buying industry.

The team beat competition from organisations such as the Department for Work and Pensions, Crown Commercial Service, Leeds City Council and Liverpool City Council.

The team were also finalists in the Procurement Innovation/Initiative of the Year award.

The Central Procurement Team have placed themselves firmly at the heart of the Council becoming a more efficient organisation, implementing a number of key changes to the way the council buys services, and now influences 85 per cent of the council’s spend, compared to only 30 per cent in 2014.

Andrew Moring, Executive Councillor for Corporate Services, said: “I am delighted that the team’s achievements have been acknowledged in this way, and that the council continues to be recognised nationally across a number of service areas.

“Southend Council spends around £120m per year buying services, supplies and works contracts to deliver services and facilities to local people and businesses.  We are accountable to the public for the way we spend these public funds and it is therefore vital that we have a professional procurement service that delivers value for money for local taxpayers, and this award proves that we do.”

Grahame Steed, Managing Editor of GO and Chair of the National GO Awards Judging Panel, said of the Awards: “This was an absolutely huge night for public sector procurement and demonstrated once again the ground-breaking initiatives that procurement teams across the UK are producing on a regular basis.

“At a time when public sector budgets are being slashed and performances are under continued scrutiny, it’s a testament to the teams involved that their initiatives continue to save money and, in many cases, change people’s lives for the better.”

Visit http://www.goawards.co.uk.national for further details on this year’s finalists