Procurement and Commissioning - The Way We See It....

At Equality Works, we’ve always viewed the procurement and commissioning of public services as key drivers in embedding the best practice principles of equality and inclusion within national, regional and local organisations.

This can be seen clearly in our work to date where we’ve applied standards of good practice to supporting clients ranging from local authorities to healthcare providers, UK charities and regional development agencies.

The Single Equality Bill will place more responsibility on public sector organisations to procure and commission goods and services in a way that fits with the principles of Public Equality Duties.

Likewise, an increasing number of large private sector organisations now recognise the value of a well thought-out Equality and Diversity strategy.

Not only is this seen as a way of improving internal productivity, it will also deliver competitive advantage when tendering for publicly-funded contracts.

Our Work in Procurement & Commissioning

Equality Works are currently working with businesses in a variety of ways to support them in:

• Understanding their current status in Equality and Diversity practice by conducting industry-relevant baseline assessments;
• Developing a strategic approach to mainstreaming Equality and Diversity into their existing business planning and management practices; and
• Building effective selection and management processes to ensure that their own Equality and Diversity practices are embedded in their own supply chain.

For an example of our work in this area please take a look at the case study from MITIE.