GO Awards Case Studies
GO Awards Wales 2025/26 Winners

Real Stories.
Real Impact.

Procurex Wales brings the GO Awards winning entries to life — hear directly from the teams behind Wales' most outstanding procurement achievements.

Three award-winning teams. Three remarkable challenges. One stage. These sessions go beyond the trophy — into the decisions, the pressure, and the results.

GO Awards Case Studies

Each session features the team behind the award-winning work, sharing what happened, how they responded, and what you can take back to your own organisation.

Contract & Commercial Initiative of the Year
13:20 – 13:45 Supply Chain & Stakeholder Engagement

Digital Health and Care Wales · Rachel Stirrup

Insolvencies and Contract Breaches: A Case Study in Crisis Management

A supplier of critical GP clinical systems entered administration — with over 160 practices mid-migration and patient safety on the line. DHCW had hours, not weeks, to respond. This is the story of what came next.

160+
GP Practices Protected
£150k
Cost Avoidance
0
Service Disruptions
Public Procurement Project of the Year
14:20 – 14:45 Supply Chain & Stakeholder Engagement

Driver & Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA)

Transforming a Legacy PFI Contract: Escaping a 20-Year, £500m Agreement

Exiting a long-running Private Finance Initiative is one of the most complex challenges in public procurement. DVLA became one of the first government bodies to do it successfully — and saved £36m in the process.

£36m
Efficiency Savings
20yr
PFI Contract Exited
6,000+
Staff Impacted
Procurement Transformation Through Technology
11:55 – 12:20 Digital Innovation in Procurement

Caerphilly CBC & Simply Do · Ian Evans

Filling the Supplier Void Through the Live Supplier Directory

Traditional procurement tools were missing local businesses entirely. Caerphilly County Borough Council partnered with Simply Do to build an AI-powered solution that surfaces suppliers others can't find. Over 650 previously invisible businesses later — the results speak for themselves.

650+
New Suppliers Found
AI
Powered Discovery
Local
SME-First Approach

More Than a Presentation

Each case study session is designed to be honest, practical, and genuinely useful — whatever sector you work in.

💬

Straight Talking

The real decisions, the setbacks, and what they'd do differently — not a polished PR version.

🔍

Lessons You Can Use

Each session ends with practical takeaways for procurement teams of all sizes.

🤝

Meet the Teams

Speakers are available to connect after their session — bring your questions.

🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿

Welsh Context

Stories rooted in the Welsh public sector landscape, reflecting the challenges you face.

These sessions are free to attend — but seats won't last

Register for Procurex Wales 2026 to secure your place and access all three case study sessions on 11 November at Utilita Arena, Cardiff.

Register Free Today
GO Awards Case Studies
GO Awards Wales 2025/26

Outstanding Procurement.
Celebrated & Shared.

At Procurex Wales 2026, we're shining a spotlight on the kind of work that wins awards — and the lessons every procurement professional can take from it.

These are just some of the outstanding entries from GO Awards Wales 2025/26. The kind of real-world procurement challenges — and remarkable responses — that will inspire our case study sessions at Procurex Wales 2026.

Award-Winning Procurement in Practice

We're highlighting some of last year's most compelling GO Awards winning entries — a glimpse of the real challenges, bold decisions, and measurable outcomes that our case study sessions at Procurex Wales 2026 will bring to life.

Contract & Commercial Initiative of the Year
GO Awards Wales 2025/26 Highlight

Digital Health and Care Wales

When a Supplier Goes Under: Keeping Wales' GP Systems Running

A supplier of critical GP clinical systems entered administration — with over 160 practices mid-migration and patient safety on the line. DHCW had hours, not weeks, to respond. This is the story of what came next.

160+
GP Practices Protected
£150k
Cost Avoidance
0
Service Disruptions
Public Procurement Project of the Year
GO Awards Wales 2025/26 Highlight

Driver & Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA)

Escaping a 20-Year, £500m Contract — and Saving £36m Along the Way

Exiting a long-running Private Finance Initiative is one of the most complex challenges in public procurement. DVLA became one of the first government bodies to do it successfully — and saved £36m in the process.

£36m
Efficiency Savings
20yr
PFI Contract Exited
6,000+
Staff Impacted
Procurement Transformation Through Technology
GO Awards Wales 2025/26 Highlight

Caerphilly CBC & Simply Do

650 Suppliers Nobody Knew Existed — Found Using AI

Traditional procurement tools were missing local businesses entirely. Caerphilly County Borough Council partnered with Simply Do to build an AI-powered solution that surfaces suppliers others can't find. Over 650 previously invisible businesses later — the results speak for themselves.

650+
New Suppliers Found
AI
Powered Discovery
Local
SME-First Approach
Collaborative Procurement Initiative Award
GO Awards Wales 2025/26 Highlight

Caerphilly County Borough Council

One Food Framework, 19 Public Bodies, One Welsh Supply Chain

Public sector food buying across Wales was fragmented, with small and regional suppliers routinely locked out. Caerphilly CBC led 19 public bodies to build a single, flexible food framework — split into over 150 regional and commodity-specific lots — so local producers could compete on equal footing.

£47m
FY24/25 Framework Spend
150+
Commodity & Regional Lots
19→21
Participating Public Bodies
Excellence In Social Value Award
GO Awards Wales 2025/26 Highlight

Carmarthenshire County Council

Flipping the Scorecard: 60% Quality, 40% Cost, £35m of Community Value

For its flagship Pentre Awel health and wellbeing development, Carmarthenshire County Council reversed the standard evaluation weighting — prioritising social value and quality over lowest price — to choose a contractor with a genuine track record of community benefit, not just the cheapest bid.

£35m+
Social Value Generated
76
Entrant Jobs Created
5,591
Person-Weeks on Site
Supplier of the Year
GO Awards Wales 2025/26 Highlight

BOF

Making "Reuse First" the Default, Not the Exception

Public sector customers said they wanted furniture reuse — but demand never followed. BOF removed the barrier by building its own in-house refurbishment facility, turning "new furniture as a last resort" into a genuine one-stop service for Welsh Government and other public bodies.

228
Pieces Reupholstered
1,246
Reused or Donated
495
Pieces Recycled
Procurement Team of the Year
GO Awards Wales 2025/26 Highlight

Welsh Government — Procurement Reform Team

Delivering a Once-in-a-Generation Procurement Act, On Time and Bilingually

Over £10bn is spent on public procurement in Wales every year. The Procurement Reform Team led the delivery of the Procurement Act 2023 — aligning two separate legislative systems, securing cross-party consent, and bringing the whole sector along with them before the law even changed.

£10bn+
Annual Spend Affected
1,000+
Stakeholders Reached
97%
Reported Better Understanding
Public Procurement Project of the Year
GO Awards Wales 2025/26 Highlight

University of South Wales

Building "Calon": How a £40M Building Delivered £21M in Social Value

USW's most ambitious procurement to date came with a stakeholder lead new to public procurement and a live design-and-build contract to get right. A bespoke Social Value Matrix turned pledges into measurable, tracked outcomes — reinvesting a major share of the project's value straight back into South Wales.

£21m
Supplier Social Value Contribution
£12m
Subcontracted to South Wales SMEs
50+
Local Jobs & Apprenticeships
Collaborative Procurement Initiative Award
GO Awards Wales 2025/26 Highlight

Ardal Procurement

Four Councils, One Procurement Service: Building Ardal from Scratch

An under-resourced local government procurement workforce across South East Wales needed a different model. Cardiff, Vale of Glamorgan, Torfaen and Monmouthshire pooled their procurement functions into Ardal — a single service built to share expertise, scale social value work, and manage three major regional frameworks together.

£1.3bn
Combined Annual Spend
40 FTE
Across Six Category Teams
350
Procurement Exercises a Year

More Than a Presentation

Our case study sessions are designed to go beyond the award — honest, practical, and genuinely useful for procurement professionals at every level.

💬

Straight Talking

The real decisions, the setbacks, and what they'd do differently — not a polished PR version.

🔍

Lessons You Can Use

Each session ends with practical takeaways for procurement teams of all sizes.

🤝

Meet the Teams

Speakers are available to connect after their session — bring your questions.

🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿

Welsh Context

Stories rooted in the Welsh public sector landscape, reflecting the challenges you face.