May 27, 2026 · 43 min · 10 segments
Procurement is where sustainability commitments get made or broken. But most businesses don't realise that the bid process itself is being transformed by AI, and that social value is increasingly the…
Alex SmithHost
And so it'd be great for, for, for people that don't really understand maybe what procurement means or working with government-
... can you, you know, what, what the actual day-to-day of that is? Um, can you explain a little about how that works in businesses and, and-
... part of what that role has been? 'Cause I think, you know, we all know procurement-- think of procurement as a supply chain, but actually-
And um, you know, no, no business exists, um, really, uh, and it certainly doesn't grow unless it wins contracts.
And, uh, those contracts often, especially in the public sector, but also to a large degree in the private sector as well, are won through a competitive process.
So a procurement team that either sits in a government department or sits in a, um, in a private sector organization will put together a specification of something they want to buy.
Uh, it could be widgets, could be staples, could be, could be physical things, or it could be services, um, like running a railway, uh, or, um, providing support to people looking for employment.
Um, and so that specification then comes to market, and organizations who are capable of and want to provide those services enter a competitive tender.
And the p- and the process of bidding is the putting together of your product or service offering together with your price offering together with your explanation of why you are best positioned to do that.
I mean, the reason I love it is, A, it's creative, and it's all to do with words and the power of persuasion, but it's also highly competitive.
When you're putting these monster bids together, it's a bit of an adrenaline rush.
And so it'd be great for, for, for people that don't really understand maybe what procurement means or working with government-
... can you, you know, what, what the actual day-to-day of that is? Um, can you explain a little about how that works in businesses and, and-
... part of what that role has been? 'Cause I think, you know, we all know procurement-- think of procurement as a supply chain, but actually-
And um, you know, no, no business exists, um, really, uh, and it certainly doesn't grow unless it wins contracts.
And, uh, those contracts often, especially in the public sector, but also to a large degree in the private sector as well, are won through a competitive process.
So a procurement team that either sits in a government department or sits in a, um, in a private sector organization will put together a specification of something they want to buy.
Uh, it could be widgets, could be staples, could be, could be physical things, or it could be services, um, like running a railway, uh, or, um, providing support to people looking for employment.
Um, and so that specification then comes to market, and organizations who are capable of and want to provide those services enter a competitive tender.
And the p- and the process of bidding is the putting together of your product or service offering together with your price offering together with your explanation of why you are best positioned to do that.
I mean, the reason I love it is, A, it's creative, and it's all to do with words and the power of persuasion, but it's also highly competitive.
When you're putting these monster bids together, it's a bit of an adrenaline rush.
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