The aim for Net Zero Go – a digital platform where local councils can find resources, tools, and data to create and plan local energy projects, is to facilitate knowledge sharing to enable high quality, successful projects to be delivered by more local authorities.

Procurement has consistently been raised as a major challenge by local authority members to deliver projects relating to local energy and achieving Net Zero. It was the top-ranked mentioned barrier in our webinar on 6^th of October 2022, where 25% of the 150-member audience chose this area.

The Innovation

The series of procurement activities, with Local Partnerships, have been carried out to help local authorities overcome their challenges related to procurement.

These activities have included the design and leadership of an innovator workshop, the development of a procurement framework finder tool, procurement specific case studies. and an online guide to direct users to the most relevant resources.

The tools and resources developed were used by Local Partnerships with Birmingham City Council on a housing retrofit project, validating their use and relevance for local authorities.

The Challenge

From interviews with local authority members involved in energy projects, and partners who help to support local authorities, the following challenges were raised:

• Finding and assessing the most suitable frameworks available to public sector
• Short timescales for funding often mean LAs rely on familiar frameworks that may not be most suitable
• Ensuring commercially attractive tenders
• Developing the procurement strategy for energy related projects with clearly evidenced decisions
• Guidance on carrying out useful, up to date, market research
• How to best learn from others

The Solution

Net Zero Go has developed the following to help address the challenges identified:

Framework finder tool

This online tool uses up to date data on frameworks available to public sector, to help users identify what options may be available in their area, for the type of project they are looking to procure. This tool aims to reduce bias and expand the options available to users. The information provided can help the user review and assess the most suitable options.

Guide to procurement best practice

The guide provides a central point on Net Zero Go to address the common user challenges and provide clear, concise information by linking to the tools and knowledge sources that are most relevant to the challenge.

Procurement decision tree

The decision tree can help users identify suitable procurement options for their projects, particularly when the requirements are well defined.

Procurement focused case studies

Case studies with details on the procurement challenges and approaches used will be published on Net Zero Go to help inform users on how others have overcome common issues.

Innovator workshop – procurement focus

A workshop with local authorities, LASER, Local Partnerships, LGA and CCS took place on 8^th Dec 2022 to disseminate the content available on Net Zero Go, and case studies to audience of 40 LAs. Feedback from this has informed out next steps as there was significant interest in understanding contracts further and using the framework finder.

Impact

The following points were given by Local Partnerships who used the resources on a project with Birmingham City Council:

• Framework finder meant a wider range of options were considered early in the process with evidence of decision making process
• Time spent on initial research reduced so more consultant time could be used on more in depth investigation
• Clear, structured process followed helped to articulate and evidence decisions that were made to define procurement strategy
• Birmingham City Council were successful in securing investment for pilot study following the cabinet report that was drafted with support from Local Partnerships who applied the Net Zero Go tools and resources. A preferred supplier has been identified and are currently in the solution design phase.

Next Steps 

• An innovator workshop with Sharpe Pritchard to focus on contract templates for typical business models, such as PPAs, is being developed
• The framework finder tool is being further developed based on interviews with users who showed interest during the procurement innovator workshop (Local Partnerships, LASER, East Sussex, Belfast, Ards and North Down)
• Procurement specific case studies are being created with partners for publication to facilitate lessons learned and approaches used