Expansion for North East company as turnover and headcount soar

Having more than doubled its head count from 30 employees to over 65 in the past year, Newcastle based Bloom Procurement Services plans further expansion, with staff numbers set to grow again in the coming months.

Formed in 2012, Bloom is the exclusive operator of the NEPRO professional services framework on behalf of NEPO – the North East Procurement Organisation. The framework was set up to help the public sector buy and manage professional services spend whilst achieving better outcomes and improving value.

Specialising in bringing together buyers and suppliers, Bloom has over 6,000 suppliers registered, allowing them access to opportunities across 300 public sector organisations. Already, the company has successfully completed 3,000 projects from very small to multi-million pound opportunities across the public sector including local authorities, hospitals, emergency services and education bodies.

In 2017, the company’s turnover was £42 million, turnover grew to £92 million in 2018 and will top £165 million in 2019.Bloom has set an ambitious target of £250 million for 2020.

Bloom’s rapid growth was acknowledged in February of this year when it won the ‘Let’s Grow’ category at the Northumberland & Tyneside North East Business Awards. The company has also been nominated for ‘North East Scale Up Business of the Year’ at the Federation of Small Business Awards 2019.

David Shields, CEO, Bloom Procurement Services, said: “The growth we are seeing is testament to the success of the NEPRO framework and the dedication of the Bloom team. The unique way of procuring services enables both buyers and suppliers to be part of an ever-growing community, benefiting from collaborative ways of working.”

Bloom is committed to the North East. Its mission is to assist public sector organisations to work with the very best suppliers.

“We want to make the competition process far less complicated for suppliers. We want to see them win work that builds their businesses both inside and outside of the region and we are helping to simplify the procurement process through our innovative technology platform,” said David.

Bloom is also committed to job creation, investing in the best people and nurturing their talent through specialist training and development plans. Investing in people and technology has been a key part of the company’s growth.

The company places strong emphasis on its commitment to social values and actively supports several North East charities including the Crisis Skylight Newcastle, a local centre offering support, education and training to homeless people. Bloom also encourages suppliers tendering for projects to demonstrate how they will add social value and support the local objectives of the public sector organisation.

David added: “Our focus for the year ahead is to keep building our public sector and supplier community, to attract a high calibre workforce and to deliver further social value into procurement projects. 70% of our projects have been delivered by SMEs, which has enabled public sector organisations to drive growth back into the local economy.

“We have achieved a tremendous amount in a short amount of time, we are ambitious and have dynamic plans in place to ensure that Bloom is a tremendous asset to the North East and that our procurement model will play a significant role in the creation of good quality jobs across the region.”