We are a company that aims to transform the face of public service in the South West of England. Southwest One is a joint venture between Somerset County Council, Taunton Deane Borough Council, Avon and Somerset Police and IBM, a unique partnership that was formed in 2007. Indeed no other partnership of a similar nature exists across Europe so we are breaking new ground in bringing excellence to the citizens of the area.
Our Vision
Southwest One is great news for our residents. The Southwest One vision is “To enable the social and economic transformation of Taunton, Somerset and the South West to deliver better value for money for council taxpayers and improve access to services for local residents”.
In short, we believe the combination of excellent public sector organisations and a globally renowned private sector company, will put our organisations in a “Category of One”. The overall aims for the partnership are to:
§Transform the overall workings of the partner organisations
§Modernise, reduce the cost of, and improve support services
§Improve access to, and delivery of customer facing services
§Invest in world class technologies
§Create an excellent working environment and sustainable employment
§Generate economic investment
§Promote sustainability and ethical business practices
What is the Strategic Procurement Service?
The Strategic Procurement Service (SPS) provides strategic guidance, advice and support on how to obtain best value for the procurement of goods and services.The service works on behalf of Southwest One, Somerset County Council, Avon and Somerset Police, and Taunton Deane Borough Council.
The SPS controls and manages the authorities’ annual spending of circa £500m on goods and services, with a view to ensuring that value for money is achieved in all transactions.The service is responsible for the delivery of the national local authority strategic goals, and acts as a focal point for encouraging local government to work closely with the wider public sector in order to satisfy joint procurement needs. Additionally, the SPS ensures that the authorities meet all strategic procurement requirements in areas such as sustainability, environmental impact and SME engagement.
Within the SPS, a team of category managers oversees all spend within the partner authorities. All of the category managers are specialists in particular ‘categories’ of spend, for example Travel, Professional Services and IT. The category managers work closely with suppliers to ensure that the Southwest One supply base can always best meet the changing needs of the authorities and the communities they serve.
There are approximately 25 people in the team, which is led by a Chief Procurement Officer who reports to directly to the CEO of Southwest One.