LOCAL GOVERNMENT PROCUREMENT
The day-to-day difference these services provide make the job hugely rewarding , says Madan .
“ In the private sector you ’ re working for a shareholder , and every time you create value for the company it goes to the bottom line ,” he says . “ But in the public sector you ’ re building community value . Any money you save , or value you create , goes into building a new community centre , a new library , a new road , and there ’ s a different level of fulfilment that comes with that .”
Madan says that recently , LGP worked with a particular council on a project to change the street lighting to LED .
“ With a million dollars a month freed up in cash flow , they were able to create a new park , and also extra funding for a road repair ,” he says . “ That ’ s the sort of difference that you can make through good procurement in the public sector .”
“ The base procurement services are centralised contracts with standardised terms and conditions for the benefit of all councils ,” Madan adds . “ By aggregating these we are able to get preferential rates through economies of scale , saving precious time in the tendering process , while ensuring compliance with their legislative obligations . We also provide consulting services to help the sector deliver complex outcomes and training services to improve their procurement skills .”
LGP provides a raft of consulting and training services LGP ’ s consulting services encompass issues such as probity , governance , auditing and legislation compliance . The advice is complemented by a range of business tools , including procurement management resources with guidelines and benchmarking materials .
“Local government is much faster at energy transition than the federal or state government ”
ANUBHAV MADAN HEAD OF PROCUREMENT , LOCAL GOVERNMENT PROCUREMENT
“ As a registered training organisation , we also deliver training ,” he adds , “ including various accredited courses to help procurement professionals achieve new qualifications .
“ We also run a series of annual events , where we impart information and knowledge from the procurement sector , as well as knowledge from our supply base .”
Because LGP offers just a raft of services it requires teams of specialists .
“ I have a team that manages all the contracts , and another team that sets up the contracts ,” reveals Madan , who says he also has a legal team that looks at legal issues , both in tendering as well as on the contract management side of things .
“ Then there is the Supplier Relationship Manager , who manages our pyramid of suppliers and makes sure we are engaged with them , and they ’ re engaged both with us and the sector . This helps reduce costs , improve quality , innovation and customer satisfaction ,” he adds .
Pandemic has changed LGP for the better Madan joined LGP around three years ago , during which time he says the difference in the company now compared to back in 2019 “ is like night and day ”.
94 February 2024