The Society of Procurement Officers in Local Government (SOPO) is now inviting submissions for its 2008 Awards under four categories:

1. County Council
2. Single Tier (Unitary) Authority
3. Non-Unitary District/Borough Council
4. Other (eg Police, Fire, Consortia, etc)

The Awards, first introduced in 2002, recognise the variety of approaches to procurement made by local authorities and provide smaller authorities with a fairer chance of winning. These are the only national awards that are specific to local government procurement.

Submissions can be made by an individual or team on behalf of their authority or consortium, and for any area of procurement work that they feel is worthy of consideration and recognition. Entries are neither confined to large or complex procurement nor restricted to members of SOPO, so there is no reason not to enter your work.

Additionally, all submissions received with education content under the four awards categories above will be separately evaluated in conjunction with the Department for Schools, Children and Families. The Outstanding Achievement in Education Procurement Award will be presented to the submission which reflects the most significant contribution to procurement within the Education sector. This special additional category not only increases your chances of winning an award; you could end up with two!

Trophies will be presented to all shortlisted entries as well as outright winners at the SOPO Gala Dinner, which is to be held during the Annual Conference.

Submitting an entry for the SOPO Awards can stimulate your staff's interest and help to generate team spirit, quite apart from raising the profile of procurement within your authority.

The criteria for judging the submissions will be:

1 Did the work enhance the profile of procurement?
2 Were the aims and objectives clear/achieved?
3 Were cost savings achieved (process costs/total life costs)?
4 Did the work demonstrate innovation?
5 Did the work involve teamwork (staff/suppliers/end customer)?
6.Were there any other indirect benefits?
7 Was the submission well presented?

Make sure that this year you give your authority the opportunity to promote its procurement excellence by submitting a nomination.

To download a Nomination Form, please click HERE. (PDF)

Closing date: 12 September 2008

For further details of these Awards please contact:
Ken May, Director of ESPO and Secretary of SOPO, at ken.may@espo.org