Introducing the Pro5
Pro5 are five of the largest public sector professional buying organisations in the UK with a combined purchasing power in excess of £2 billion per annum.
Working together the Pro5 use their extensive buying power to help local authorities in England and Wales:
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get the best value solutions in key markets on commonly purchased goods and services
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deliver savings and therefore contribute to local efficiency targets
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save time and effort by accessing pre-negotiated compliant procurement arrangements
We are also working towards accreditation with the Office of Government Commerce's pan-government collaboration strategy for all frameworks that carry the Pro5 framework agreement mark.
For more information on any of the Pro5 organisations, please visit our websites by clicking on the links below:
Central Buying Consortium (CBC)
Eastern Shires Purchasing Organisation (ESPO)
North Eastern Purchasing Organisation (NEPO)
West Mercia Supplies (WMS)
Pro5 Framework Agreements
The Pro5 are working together to put in place national framework agreements that ensure you get the best value on commonly purchased goods and services.
Over time the Pro5 will extend the number of nationally available frameworks so that more of these great solutions will be accessible to local authorities across England and Wales.
Where you see frameworks with the Pro5 logo you can rest assured that the framework represents the best value national solution available through Pro5.
Those frameworks which do not carry the Pro5 logo still offer excellent value for money but may not be available nationally. Please check with the relevant Pro5 member offering the framework for details.
Latest Pro5 Deals:
- Voltage reduction +/or optimisation technology
- Microgeneration energy products
- Sustainable Products for Parks Management
- Sustainable Products made from recycled materials - outdoor furniture
- Sustainable Products made from recycled materials - IT Consumables
- Energy Efficiency Products
- Petroleum Products
- Document Solutions
- IT Related Products and Associated Services
- RFID for Libraries (Equipment and Tags)
- Telecommunication Equipment
- E-Solutions
- Business Travel Services
- Playground Equipment – Outdoor
- Commercial Catering Equipment
Renewal of Pro5 solutions already in place and in progress:
- Microgeneration energy products
- Sustainable Products for Parks Management
- Sustainable Products made from recycled materials - outdoor furniture
- Sustainable Products made from recycled materials - IT Consumables
- Energy Efficiency Products
Pro5 Solutions agreed and in progress:
- Computer Software
- Telephone Systems
- Temporary Staff
- Vendor Neutral Training
- Advertising & Recruitment Consultancy Services
- Catering Services Frameworks
- Catering Equipment Maintenance: Commercial and Domestic
- Canned Fish
- Dry Pasta
- Cereals and Pulses
- Flour
- Eggs
- Beers Wines and Spirits
- Bread and Morning Goods
- Sandwiches and Filled Bread Products
- Vending Services, Soft Drinks, Confectionary and Snacks
- Fuel Cards - Mini Competition being run
- BioMass
- Commercial and Passenger Transport Vehicles
- Refuse Collection Vehicles, Other Municipal Vehicles and Buses
- Lubricating Oils, Greases and Anti Freeze
- Vehicle Glass Replacement
- Operating Lease Finance
- Mail Services
- Electric Vehicle Delivery Project – Lease and Supply of Electric and Ultra Low Carbon Vehicles. Lead is Transport for London and scope includes Metropolitan Police, GLA and London based Local Authorities, Local Authorities served by Pro5. Links to SMART SPP project (www.smart-spp.eu).
- TV Contract and Associated Goods
Please contact your nearest Pro5 member to find out more.
The Pro5 Membership
Central Buying Consortium (CBC)
The Central Buying Consortium (CBC) a joint working protocol, a partnership of local authorities. It has no separate existence and no funds of its own. It is an association of independent purchasing and supplies organisations and is run by the public sector for the public sector. It makes no profits and seeks to reduce the burden of expenditure from the public purse for the benefit of Council Tax payers.
Because CBC harnesses the resources of local purchasing organisations, it is still responsive to local needs and agendas. Each member seeks to advance the interests of his/her own authority through management and working group processes of the consortium, and each authority makes a contribution to and derives benefit from the major contracts that the CBC undertakes.
CBC currently consists of seventeen full member County or City Councils;
Coventry, Portsmouth and Southampton City Councils.
Luton and Northampton Borough Councils.
Milton Keynes Council.
The County Councils of Bedfordshire, Buckinghamshire, Dorset, Essex, Hampshire, Hertfordshire, Kent, Northamptonshire, Oxfordshire, Suffolk and West Sussex.
Eastern Shires Purchasing Organisation (ESPO)
ESPO is a joint Committee of Local Authorities and operates within the Local Government (Goods & Services) Act 1970. It acts as a purchasing agent for its member authorities and other customers and provides a professional cost effective procurement and supply service. The use of our products and services by our member authorities and by other customers, as measured by the value of their combined procurement activities, amounted to £698 million in 2007/8. Procurement services provided can be grouped into four categories as follows:
1. A strategic role offering best practice relating to the procurement function as a whole.
2. A procurement role for goods and services commonly used by a number of customers throughout the consortium area. This type of activity includes framework call off contracts and some local contracting where local issues are of key consideration.
3. A catalogue based offering utilising the Distribution Centre at Grove Park, Leicester.
4. procurement service for ‘ad hoc’ goods and services required by customers where advice, guidance and good practice are the watchword.
ESPO was established in 1981 to provide a comprehensive procurement service to member and other authorities. It consists of:
Cambridgeshire County Council
Leicester City Council
Leicestershire County Council
Lincolnshire County Council
Norfolk County Council
Peterborough City Council
Warwickshire County Council
It is a self-financing organisation, operating on a not-for-profit basis, utilising the aggregate buying volumes of our member authorities and other customers to maximise the potential savings for all customers in every area of our procurement facility.
North Eastern Purchasing Organisation (NEPO)
NEPO is a purchasing and contracting consortium consisting of 12 full member local authorities and 12 associate members. It was established in 1976 as a means of aggregating contracts and pooling purchasing knowledge and expertise between the original 5 Tyne and Wear metropolitan authorities. It has since expanded its membership and services and now negotiates a huge range of contracts. NEPO now covers an area from the Scottish border through to Tyneside, Wearside, County Durham and Teeside.
The 12 full Member Authorities are:
City of Sunderland Council
Durham County Council
Darlington Borough Council
Gateshead Council
Hartlepool Borough Council
Middlesborough Borough Council
Newcastle City Council
North Tyneside Council
Northumberland County Council
Redcar and Cleveland Borough Council
South Tyneside Council
Stockton Borough Council
The 12 Associate members are:
Carlisle District Council
Cestria Community Housing
Derwentside Homes
Fire Control North East
Hyndburn Homes
NEXUS
Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead
Sedgefield Borough Homes
South Gloucestershire Council
Sunderland Academy
Swindon Borough Council
Wansbeck Homes
West Mercia Supplies (WMS)
WMS is a Purchasing Consortium owned by four member authorities – Herefordshire Council, Shropshire County Council, The Borough of Telford and Wrekin and Worcestershire County Council.
As well as offering a ‘one stop shop to schools and colleges’, providing an extensive range of high use office and educational products, WMS also supply local government offices and other non-profit making organisations.
WMS started out as Shropshire’s Supplies Division, a government review in 1981 judged Shropshire to be one of the top 10 performing purchasing operations in the country despite its relatively small size.
Building on these foundations WMS was formed in 1987 when Shropshire County Council and Hereford and Worcester County Council set up a joint committee to oversee procurement.
In 1999 WMS, having outgrown its original warehouse operation at Longden Road, Shrewsbury, moved to a new purpose built building at Oxon Business Park, Shrewsbury where they are currently located.
Yorkshire Purchasing Organisation (YPO)
Established constitutionally as a Joint Committee of Local Authorities in 1974, the Yorkshire Purchasing Organisation operates under the aegis of the Local Authority (Goods and Services) Act 1970, and aims to provide a professional and cost effective purchasing and supply service to customers in constituent and other authorities.
The largest formally constituted Local Authority purchasing consortium in the UK, YPO is governed by a Management Committee of elected representatives from constituent authorities.
At present there are 13 Members and 5 Associate Members:
Members:
Barnsley Metropolitan Borough Council
Bolton Metropolitan Borough Council
City of Bradford Metropolitan Council
Calderdale Metropolitan Borough Council
Doncaster Metropolitan Borough Council
Kirklees Metropolitan council
Knowsley Metropolitan Borough Council
North Yorkshire County Council
Rotherham Metropolitan Borough Council
St Helen's Metropolitan Borough Council
City of Wakefield Metropolitan District Council
Wigan Metropolitan Borough Council
City of York Council
Associate Members:
Metropolitan Borough of Bury
South Yorkshire Fire & Civil Defence Authority
South Yorkshire Police Authority
West Yorkshire Fire and Civil Defence Authority
West Yorkshire Police Authority
