Bouygues UK

Bouygues UK is one of the leading main contractors in the UK – delivering award-winning construction, development and regeneration projects across public and commercial private sectors. In 2014, Bouygues UK and its subsidiary companies; Denne, Leadbitter and Thomas Vale adopted Constructionline to deliver efficiency savings within their procurement and supply chain management processes.

Following its adoption of Constructionline, Bouygues UK and its subsidiary companies have been able to deliver a streamlined procurement process. When asked about the efficiency savings Constructionline has made for the organisation, Martin Mather, Procurement and Supply Chain Director at Bouygues UK told us: “If you consider that it costs us roughly £300 per supplier to carry out the assessment internally; for an organisation of our size with a supply chain of over 3,500 companies, the Constructionline service saves us over £1 million by simply handling the supplier assessment process for us.”

Martin then added, “By assessing, verifying and monitoring our suppliers’ information, Constructionline not only gives us the security that our supply chain is compliant to industry and government standards such as PAS 91, we’re also given peace of mind that we’ve reduced risks in the process.”

SUPPORTING INDUSTRY BEST PRACTICE

As a part of their commitment to support industry initiatives and promote best practice, Bouygues UK is a member of the Main Contractor Advisory Steering Group – a committee of procurement professionals from the UK’s leading major contracting organisations – set up by Constructionline to discuss recent changes in legislation and current issues in procurement and supply chain management.

In 2014, the members of the Advisory Steering Group made a vow to streamline prequalification and health and safety assessment for their supply chains. As a part of this commitment, Bouygues UK pledged to adopt minimum health and safety assessment standard, Safety Schemes in Procurement (SSIP) and industry recognised PQQ, PAS 91.

Talking about the commitment, Martin Mather told us, “By becoming aligned to government initiatives like PAS 91 and Safety Schemes in Procurement, Bouygues UK is helping to reduce duplication and simplify procurement for thousands of second tier suppliers. We’re proud to be part of an initiative that seeks to save suppliers in the industry more than £25 million a year.”

PARTNERING WITH CONSTRUCTIONLINE TO ENGAGE LOCALLY

In 2015, Bouygues UK commenced work on the Havelock regeneration project which will see the construction of over 900 new homes in the Southall area. Working in partnership with their client Catalyst Housing and the London Borough of Ealing, Bouygues UK was keen to source a wide range of local subcontractors from different trades.

Working closely with their Constructionline Client Relationship Manager, a project specific Supplier Engagement Event was held as an opportunity to connect with local SME contractors that meet their criteria.

Prior to the event, Martin Mather told us: “We’re committed to working with local businesses to ensure that the local economy profits as much as possible from our plans. Holding a Supplier Engagement Event in partnership with Constructionline allows us to meet with a variety of SMEs to build up a reliable supply-chain on the doorstep of the housing project.”

80 local suppliers attended on the day (of which 51% were SMEs) for the opportunity to learn about details of the project and meet face-to-face with members of the buyers’ procurement team. Bouygues UK, Catalyst Housing and Ealing Council each took the opportunity to discuss details on the background of the project and its objectives, as well as tender requirements and an estimated timetable of the works.

Following the event, Client Relationship Manager, Pete Bunker said: “We had a great supplier turnout at the event. This is a big project, so we’re certain local firms enjoyed the opportunity to meet decision makers from Bouygues UK and Catalyst Housing to learn about winning work on the delivery of the housing scheme.”

AN INTEGRATED SOLUTION

Bouygues UK and many other major contractors have existing interactive procurement systems in place to monitor their suppliers’ performance and manage payments. Constructionline seamlessly integrates the supplier information held in our system with an organisation’s e-procurement service.

Discussing how Constructionline integrates with their supply chain management system, Martin Mather told us, “Our system links directly with Constructionline, so our subcontractor’s information held on Constructionline flows through automatically to our records. For Bouygues UK this is essential, because it ensures that we can access the data we need, when we need it. For our suppliers, this means they only have to undergo the assessment process once when they join our supply chain, without having to duplicate any information they have already provided as a part of their Constructionline membership.”