National recognition for the SECE team

The South East Centre of Excellence (SECE) team lead by David Corcoran (Head of Procurement), gained national recognition winning the Finance and Procurement category of the Guardian Public Service Awards 2007.

We were chosen by SECE around 3 years’ ago to lead on the construction workstream following our successful record of innovative procurement on major projects, in particular the ENHANCE project.

The judges recognised that the ‘SECE major framework’ introduced in August 2006 was the largest and most ambitious procurement arrangement of its kind in the public sector with its ability to deliver up to £3bn of construction work providing efficiency savings of around £40m.

Andrew Smith who collected the award with David Corcoran and Keith Heard from Kirsty Wark commented “I was delighted that the tremendous effort and contribution from staff involved with SECE has been recognised nationally. The impact that we have made on collaborative working and securing efficiencies on major projects for authorities in the south east has been a significant.”