Northumbrian Water scoops top prize at the CIPS Supply Management Awards 2018

Northumbrian Water is celebrating after scooping two awards at CIPS (Chartered institute of Procurement and Supply) awards.

The water firm’s procurement team was awarded both the category Best Contribution to Corporate Responsibility and named as overall winners at a ceremony held at Grosvenor House in London earlier this week (September, 12).

The CIPS awards are recognised as a global benchmark for procurement excellence that an organisation or individual in the procurement and supply chain profession can achieve.

Northumbrian Water Category Managers, Laura McMain and John Murray were presented with the awards at the ceremony. Laura said: “The CIPS awards are recognised across the globe as the most sought-after procurement and supply accolades, and probably the toughest to win, so we are extremely proud.

John added: “To be successful in the Best Contribution to Corporate Responsibility was brilliant but to then scoop the Overall Winner accolade at the CIPS SM Awards was amazing. It rewards the team for the hard work while demonstrating how procurement can add value to our business.”

The judges recognised Northumbrian Water’s procurement excellence, describing it as ‘An outstanding, first-class piece of work, while praising how we made use of external resources such as the Ethical Trading Initiative and the Government’s Flexible Framework Model for sustainable procurement to establish best practice for suppliers, sharing them through supplier workshops, and publishing booklets explaining what is expected of suppliers.

Chair of Judges and Group Director of CIPS, Cath Hill said: “Once again, the standard of the award entries and the quality of the procurement projects highlighted were astounding, giving our expert judging panel a really hard task this year.

“Across so many sectors and organisational maturity levels, we have seen activities and projects that are game changing; driving success and innovation and really making a difference to the teams and organisations they serve.  Excellence in Procurement and Supply Chain Management is a key organisational differentiator and these awards are testament to how important that is.”