Hansel offered support for the launch of the wellbeing services county’s procurement processes

Procure­ment specialists were busy in all the well­being services counties in 2023 – the new organisations were being set up while the back­log of tendering gene­rated during the preparatory period was unravelled. The Wellbeing Services County of Lapland made use of Hansel’s joint procure­ment and ex­pert services. Procurement procedures were implemented, a procurement stra­tegy was developed and produc­tivity issues were discussed together.

The Well­being Servi­ces County of Lapland was created by merging 27 organisations, each with its own way of wor­king and its own cul⁠ture. In procure­ment, the harmo­nisation started with a procurement services unit consisting of 16 people and headed by unit head and Head of Procurement, Hilkka Neuvonen.

“We had already started to centralise procure­ment in the Lap­land Hospi­tal District. Now, in the well­being servi­ces county, we handle all procure­ment projects exceeding the threshold value in one place,” says Neuvonen.

In practice, the wellbeing services county’s contracting entity was made up of professionals from the hos­pital district who were already familiar with the many faces of procurement, including a wide range of health­care services, goods, ICT and other techni­cal procurement projects. Employees of the wellbeing services county’s contracting entity have also had to familiarise them­selves with procurement in the field of social services. During the first year, the talented team was strengthened through successful recruit­ment, and the procurement was divided by category.

“I’d like to thank Finnish policymakers and our management for their understanding of the importance of procurement and the investments they have made in our operating con­ditions,” Neuvonen says.

Determined plan­ning and implementation of the unit and procurement as a whole has continued since the prepa­ratory period. A successful example Neuvonen mentions is the publication of a procure­ment calendar in June 2023. Potential suppliers in particular have praised the fact that information about future tendering is given well in advance. The publication of the plans is a type of pro­active market dia­logue that aims to make procurement planning increasingly proactive.

Additional help from Hansel

Hansel came to the aid of the Well­being Ser­vices County of Lapland in early 2023, when there were more tenders on the table than the wellbeing services county’s staff could handle. The assistance of tende­ring service ex­perts was required for a few projects involving the procurement of construction services, technical equipment and their installation. The prepa­ration of a procure­ment strategy started in May with the support of Hansel’s developers.

“The procurement strategy is highly functional. It has a strong link to the national procure­ment strategy and the main stra­tegy of the wellbeing services county. I like the cla­rity and concreteness of the final result. With the sup­port of the procurement strategy, it will be easy to start implementing measures,” says a happy Neuvonen.

The preparation process for the procurement strategy of the Wellbeing Services County of Lapland was exten­sive. It was based on a review of the current sta­tus, the level of ma­turity of the procure­ment and the opera­ting environment. Work­shops included parti­cipants from all administrative branches and different units. Anyone interested also had the oppor­tunity to participate in an online brainstorming session, and the draft strate­gy was circulated for comments before adoption. The procure­ment strategy reiterates the five themes of the wellbeing services county’s stra­tegy: customer experience, personnel experience, good gover­nance, financial balance and effectiveness.

Another pro­ject with Hansel’s procure­ment developers started towards the end of the year. It examined productivity from many angles instead of just the procure­ment perspective.

“The wellbeing services counties are under tre­mendous savings pressures. Thinking about productivity in the en­tire chain, starting with procure­ment planning and ending with procurement contracts, is important. This makes it possible to identify effective adjust­ment mea­sures at a large scale,” Neuvonen points out, thanking Hansel’s people for their good guidance in the iden­tification of areas where savings can be achieved.

Well-managed procurement

The wellbeing services county of Lapland also makes use of joint procure­ment to gain volu­me benefits. The wellbeing services county aims to identify joint procure­ment procedures that will also facilitate its own administrative work during the contract period.

“We always go through joint procure­ment op­tions with procure­ment ser­vices and the accounting unit when planning a procure­ment procedure. We try to favour joint procure­ment, but of course we always care­fully assess the strategic fit and econ­omic benefits of joining,” Neuvonen says.

The development work has also led to enthusiasm for knowledge-based procurement management in Lapland, and Neuvonen encourages everyone to use the Procure­ment Pulse service. She uses the knowledge gained from procurement as an aid in the preparation of procurement procedures, financial planning and monitoring, and the identification of adjust­ment measures. Car­bon foot­print da­ta is also widely used.

The wellbeing services county’s procurement volumes are high, and procurement procedures vary a great deal. Neuvonen praises Hansel for its varied sup­port and for always being recep­tive to her develop­ment ideas. For example, the Wellbeing Services County of Lapland was the first to introduce an electronic inter­face between its financial management system and Procurement Pulse. Neuvonen al­ready has some new coope­ration ideas to ensure that the entire procurement life­cycle is better managed in future.

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