A good procurement process is good for business – it drives improved service and value, and encourages less waste. But procurement is about a balance of power. Get the balance wrong, everyone loses – and the people who are affected most are the end users and employees at the sharp end of unrealistic service delivery agreements. To achieve the right balance we must, as an industry, educate the sector as a whole and support our people better and celebrate when it is done right: something done very well by the Welsh National Procurement Awards.

Of course, nobody ever said that procurement was going to be easy. One of the main problems complicating the process is the difference in outlook and culture that tends to exist between the various suppliers, partners and customer organisations involved, which is why a collaborative approach is so crucial to long term success.

Teamwork is a common theme in the work of CEW. But we make no apology for that. One of the best teams we have been involved with is Atlantic Waste who were a pioneer of the Green Compass initiative and a leader in waste management in Wales. So, it was very sad to hear of the severe fire at their facility in Rumney. We hope that the broader ‘team’ in Welsh construction will support them.