Hello, thank you for showing interest in the procurement opportunities here at Birmingham.

An organisation of the size and complexity of Birmingham City Council means that the opportunity to add value from a procurement perspective is huge.

There are currently 40 people within Corporate Procurement, and we provide services to all areas of the council. Our Procurement Business Plan focuses on delivering 4 key themes:

• 'Enabling the delivery of outcomes for citizens'
• 'Keeping the Council Legally Compliant'
• 'Saving us money'
• 'Developing capabilities and innovative practices'

Procurement are involved in all key initiatives across the city including children’s services, adults social care, the Commonwealth Games, the Clean Air Zone, transportation and waste management, all in addition to the major redevelopment work that is ongoing across the city. The team are also supporting the implementation of a completely new ERP system and supporting the Council’s commercial agenda.

We are working within a very dynamic environment at present given the amount of activity and change that is going on and the pace that we need to deliver it all at. So, it’s a very exciting time to be involved in procurement here at Birmingham. As we navigate our way through the current Covid Recovery Plan the council are leading the way with a very flexible approach to their working practices with most currently working fully remotely. Moving forward this plan will involve a continued approach to flexible and remote working for all council staff.

In addition to this, we are about to undertake a structural review to better realign ourselves to the future needs of the council and our citizens and create a career development path way for staff, which is why we are now looking to strengthen the service with some additional resources.

From a candidate perspective we are seeking bright commercially minded individuals and a track record in procurement.

Personally, however what is key for me and where I think procurement professionals can add most value is in the ability to identify opportunities and solve problems with the needs of the business in mind so they deliver maximum social and financial value for the organisation.

We have opportunities across a number of category areas and whilst category experience is important, given the diversity of activity we are involved the successful candidate will need to be adaptable enough to be able to excel in a variety of areas.

I look forward to meeting you here in Birmingham.

Richard Tibbatts