Go Awards Winners: Contractor of the Year!
The evening of 16 May saw the UK National GO Awards take place in the historic city of Liverpool with scenes of celebration and joy at the Titanic Hotel as the UK’s best public procurement achievements were recognised.
More than 20 years after the first awards event, the GO Awards – organised by BIP Solutions – are now bigger and better than ever, with both a record number of submissions and a record number of attendees at the Awards dinner, reflecting not just the growth of the awards programme but also that of the profile of and interest in public sector procurement from right across the UK.
This was the first time the Awards had been presented in Liverpool, following previous events in London, Manchester and Birmingham.
Hosting the big night and delivering the welcome address was BBC broadcaster and GO Awards regular Holly Hamilton, who summed up their importance at a time of significant change: “
Since 2002, the GO Awards have recognised achievement and success across public procurement – both for organisations and individuals and across the public, private and voluntary sectors. The Awards have helped to showcase outstanding people and celebrate best practice.
Everyone here will know that this area is evolving quickly, which makes it all the more important that the GO Awards remain as a vital and powerful benchmark of progress and development. The standard of the competition has never been higher – and that’s thanks to the fantastic work that you and your many colleagues across the UK are doing every day.”
The Awards lived up to their UK-wide ethos, with Welsh Government Commercial Delivery (in partnership with Lyreco UK and Ireland ) winning the Contractor of the Year Award, Who also won the highest gong of the evening (Go Excellence Award) at the GO Awards Wales last November for their joint Well-being Wales Programme, a series of innovative, Foundational, Circular and Green Economy Cymru Scheme’s, which have led to the creation of over 500 jobs over the last 7 years. The programme now has ambitions to tackle and address some of the most pressing societal issues, from climate change, via the monitoring and reduction of organisations energy consumption and the very air we breathe to homelessness, and biodiversity safeguarding.
Diane Brooks – Head of Frameworks – Lyreco UK & Ireland Public Sector (Wales):
“To be empowered by Lyreco as the Framework supplier and supported through compliance by Welsh Government Commercial Delivery (WGCD), as the Framework owners, has meant that my Team and I have been able to create strategies and innovative problem-solving schemes that in-turn deliver across a wide landscape of Welsh Government policy objectives, legal Acts and commitments.
We’re now seeing our passion, ambition, and commitment to provide outstanding social, circular, and environmental value, alongside our original mandate to deliver best in class business supplies to the Welsh Public Sector, make a material difference to those people and places well beyond the original scope of the Framework, which is indeed its own intrinsic reward!
Winning the hotly contested, much coveted Go Award for Public Sector – Contractor of the Year, is the icing on the cake!”
Grahame Steed , Director of Public Policy and Research at BiP Solutions and Chair of the GO Awards judging panel, was delighted with the standard of the 2023/24 winners:
“The standard and volume of entries for this year’s awards, including from organisations who haven’t participated before, coupled with the number of attendees here tonight, emphasises the increased profile of not just the GO Awards but public procurement at large, in health, education, infrastructure, local and central government and more.
“In a sector that is so important to the day-to-day running of this country, its brilliant to see so many examples of innovative and high-quality procurement getting the recognition they deserve. Congratulations to all our winners, highly commended entries and finalists, and we can’t wait to see what next year will bring.”
