Local Supply Chain (LSC) at a glance!

I’m often asked the question “What is LSC?” and on various occasions I have answered with things like:

“It’s a supply chain management and procurement platform for the construction industry.”

“It’s the UK’s leading procurement platform for the construction industry.”

And one answer I’ve tried recently but not quite polished:

“It’s a software platform designed to provide main contractors with a suite of tools to source, manage and engage their subcontractors and run streamlined, collaborative procurements - whilst at the same time, aligning to their clients’ needs and exceeding their expectations. It helps to deliver operational success, whilst driving business development and future proofing your organisation’s processes and policies”

So really, what does it do, is probably a better way to approach the question.

Main contractors and clients alike can and do use LSC to manage their subcontractors and end-to-end procurement activities. This involves various stages, which I’ll explain individually.

First, we’ll touch on procurements.

Procurements

LSC manages the end-to-end procurement process from Pipeline Projects through to Awards and subcontractor feedback on lost tenders. Managing daily actions is much easier and quicker - and users benefit from how LSC makes processes much more collaborative. Plus, at the same time, it captures the right levels of information needed to present back to clients.

Pipeline projects

One of the early features of LSC, is the ability to give subcontractors early notice of upcoming projects. Subcontractors can watch projects and be notified of progress, as well as individual trades people who are looking to offer their skills or services.

Expressions of interest (EOI)

Also known by clients as market engagement, it is very quick, easy and collaborative to engage local SMEs by trade and location. If you’re looking to drive local spend and increase social value, then like all our clients, the EOI function is a must have.

Invites to tender

In seconds, EOIs can be converted to tenders, bringing with them all the information about interested subcontractors. Alternatively, using our ITT Wizard, work packages can be created, assembled, and sent with complete audit trails and auto-chase facilities to increase tender returns. LSC will manage online tender returns, amendments, clarifications, enquiry letters, documents and the handover process - creating a collaborative environment for everyone involved within your business.

Awards

Using LSC, buyers can issue intents to award to successful subcontractors. In doing so, the system is capturing lots of information on local spend, the types of companies you are engaging, the size of company and number of employees etc – details that many of our existing clients use in their tender bids themselves.

Feedback

At the same time as making an award, it’s simple to provide feedback to those who were unsuccessful. This is one of our subcontractors’ most favourable features and has proven that providing feedback on unsuccessful tenders drives better tender response. This is understandable as the communication between buyers and suppliers is very much two-way.

Performance

Following the awards and feedback processes, users can schedule performance reviews based on when the successful subcontractor is expected to complete their work on site. Performance is one of many areas where the supply chain management and procurement process is embedded within LSC.

We’ll talk more about LSC’s supply chain management functionality in coming weeks!