Supplier Relationships

Procurement

At USW, we believe in building a better tomorrow through collaboration, innovation and partnership.

Procurement
A scenic view of the Welsh hills surrounding the Pontypridd Campus.

Supplier Events (Existing)

At USW, we believe in building a better tomorrow through collaboration, innovation and partnership. As part of our ongoing commitment to our supply base, we are excited to announce an upcoming event specifically for our existing Suppliers: the Supplier Townhall and the Supplier Awards Ceremony. With the theme of ‘Building Better Tomorrows’, this event offers valuable opportunities to receive insights, collaboration and recognition with our executive team, USW colleagues and fellow suppliers.

The 2024 Townhall and Awards will be held on Wednesday 6th November 2024, at the USW Conference Centre in Treforest. This event aims to recognise the work of our external supplier and show an appreciation for the difference they make to colleagues, students and the wider USW community.

Colleagues have been invited to nominate their chose supplier, and suppliers can also self-nominate for any of the following six awards:

  • Service
  • Innovation
  • Social Value
  • Collaboration
  • Health and Safety
  • USW STAR 

Nominations for awards are open NOW and can be made by sending a nomination form to [email protected]. The deadline for submission of nominations is Friday 26th July 2024, and one nomination form should be sent per award.

FOLLOWING THE SUCCESS OF THE THIRD USW SUPPLIER AWARDS LAST YEAR, WE ARE THRILLED THAT WE’LL BE ABLE TO RECOGNISE OUR BRILLIANT SUPPLIERS ONCE AGAIN AT THE 2024 CEREMONY.

Catherine Lund

Procurement Director

WE HAVE A WIDE RANGE OF VALUED SUPPLIERS AT USW, AND I AM LOOKING FORWARD TO READING THE SUBMITTED NOMINATIONS AND FINDING OUT MORE ABOUT THEM.

Catherine Lund

Procurement Director

WE FOUND IT REALLY USEFUL TO GAIN A CLEAR UNDERSTANDING OF THE UNIVERSITY’S TRANSFORMATION PLANS, AND HOW IMPORTANT SUPPLIER RELATIONSHIPS ARE IN ACHIEVING THIS.

Softcat

IT WAS A FANTASTIC EVENT, WHICH WAS VERY ORGANISED AND INFORMATIVE. IT WAS GREAT TO HEAR WHAT YOUR FOCUSES ARE AND HOW YOU WOULD LIKE TO WORK WITH YOUR SUPPLIERS.

Softcat

BEING RELATIVELY NEW IN TO THE “SUPPLIER WORLD”, THIS WAS MY FIRST EVENT OF THIS KIND; IT WAS GREAT TO MEET SO MANY FELLOW SUPPLIERS AND GAIN A FANTASTIC INSIGHT INTO USW’S VISION FOR THE FUTURE. IT WAS A BRILLIANT DAY, AND I REALLY DID TAKE A LOT FROM IT.

Graddon Vending

THANK YOU FOR INVITING US TO THE TOWN HALL EVENT LAST WEEK, WE FOUND IT REALLY USEFUL TO GAIN A CLEAR UNDERSTANDING OF THE UNIVERSITY’S TRANSFORMATION PLANS, AND HOW IMPORTANT SUPPLIER RELATIONSHIPS ARE TO USW IN ACHIEVING THIS.

Client Manager

Softcat

Supplier Town Hall and Awards

On November 20th, we had the pleasure of hosting our annual Supplier Townhall and Awards ceremony, bringing together our valued suppliers, procurement team and USW colleagues to celebrate achievements, gain insights and recognise the excellence collaboration can bring. The event, held at the USW Conference Centre in Treforest was a resounding success, showcasing the strength of our supplier relationships and opportunities to strengthen and deliver more, together.

Our supplier townhall kicked off the event and we were lucky enough to hear from some influential USW speakers who shared valuable insights about the role they play at USW. There was opportunity for interactive discussion in the form of Supplier Workshops, focused on Supplier Relationships and developing our Carbon Reporting capability.

Supplier feedback and input was welcomed from our suppliers and all were encouraged to share their perspectives, challenges and ideas for improvement. These valuable insights will inform our ongoing efforts to enhance our procurement processes and strengthen our opportunity to develop.

We also had the honour of presenting awards to outstanding suppliers who have demonstrated excellence innovation and commitment to the USW Strategy in their work with the University. The winners of the 2023 Supplier Awards are:

Service – Mental Health University Liaison Service

The judging panel felt that this supplier nomination exemplified everything the award is designed to recognise. 

The supplier allows USW to cater for a greater range of student well-being concerns, ensuring the support to students is balanced, appropriate and cost effective. 

The partnership has allowed for collaborative working with other Universities and has presented USW’s Student Services with extensive and exceptional training opportunities.

Innovation - OCS

The Innovation award is designed to recognise suppliers who have proactively delivered ideas and opportunities for continuous improvement and innovation at USW.

The judging panel recognised that for OCS, each of USW’s campuses brings a different challenge, but through their innovation and different cleaning techniques they have been able to ensure they meet USW’s needs. 

Whether through Robotics or new chemicals and cleaning equipment, OCS seek out the most up to date innovations to deliver their service.

Social Value – E Cycle 

The social value award is designed to recognise suppliers who proactively create specific initiatives which USW has implemented to support colleagues, students, and the local community. 

Through E Cycle, USW was able to provide IT equipment to our partner university, the Kharkiv State Academy of Physical Culture, in Ukraine. 

E Cycle collected our equipment, wiped all the data, re-imaged them, paid for the Windows licences and delivered them back to campus. 

They also supplied laptop bags for all the devices. All was done free of charge. 

This supplier demonstrates everything the award is designed to recognise. 

Collaboration – Neon Events 

The Collaboration award is designed to recognise suppliers who have demonstrated a proactive and cooperative approach to supplier relationships and their partnership with USW as a customer. 

The award also seeks to recognise those suppliers who demonstrate the same approach with other USW suppliers or the wider community, with mutual goals and benefits. 

Neon Events work closely with USW, demonstrating how a supplier can become an extension of USW teams. 

They have integrated with the USW Events and Engagement Team to ensure they appreciate the internal workings of USW. 

The partnership with this supplier has also meant that USW now has dedicated expertise in festival event management. 

These tangible benefits from such a collaborative relationship ensured this nomination was a strong one. 

Health and Safety – Kingdom Security

The Health and Safety award is for suppliers who have introduced new ways of working to USW and recognises suppliers who foster a positive health and safety culture. 

Student and staff well-being is always important to USW; it is vital that suppliers based on campus can respond with the required pace and skillset.

Kingdom Security embody this in full, and have dealt admirably with many incidents, some of which have been serious medical situations. 

During all incidents, students’ welfare was always put first.

The panel admired what the supplier had done, and the nomination clearly shared the human stories associated with this activity.

USW STAR – OCS 

The USW Star award is designed to recognise a supplier who has gone above and beyond expectations or who has proactively delivered ideas and opportunities to drive value and improvements for USW’s staff, students or the wider community. 

It also recognises suppliers who consistently exemplify and demonstrate the five USW values; collaborative, professional, creative, inspiring, and responsive. 

The winner of the USW STAR award, OCS, is a supplier that directly benefits student experience at the University. 

As a sometimes-overlooked aspect of daily business at USW, the service provided by OCS deserves to be recognised.

It is through their service provision that USW are able to operate safely each day. 

The effort that OCS put in is palpable, so much so that at a recent internal conference, a speaker commented on how much cleaner our sites are.

 

We warmly congratulate all of our winners of the 2023 Supplier Awards and express our thanks to all of our suppliers for their continued efforts.

 

Supplier Knowledge Centre

Welcome to USW’s Supplier Knowledge Centre, this is where you will find valuable information, guidance and tools to support your partnership with USW. Whether you are a current supplier, or are interested in working with us, our Supplier Knowledge Centre offers some key resources to help you navigate our procurement processes, meet our responsible procurement goals and drive positive impact. 

Modern Slavery Series: Watch this informative YouTube series on modern slavery to learn about what it is, why we should be concerned, how to spot the signs and details of having your own Modern Slavery statement. 

Developing a Carbon Reduction Plan: Download this guide to developing a carbon reduction plan when supplying the Higher Education Sector. 

Modern Slavery Guidance for Suppliers: Download this guide for information on developing your own Modern Slavery and Human Trafficking Act statement. 

Our Supplier Knowledge Centre is designed to empower our suppliers with the knowledge, tools and resources they need to succeed. The USW Procurement team are committed to developing this area continually, and we will update this page as more resources become available.

Newsletter Updates

Welcome to the University of South Wales newsletter, our supplier source for the latest updates, information and news from the USW Procurement Team. 

Our newsletters are created with our suppliers in mind, providing information that you should find useful and keep you informed and engaged with our priorities as a Procurement Team. 

If there is anything specific you would like to see featured, please get in touch [email protected].