Procurement | Valerio Ficcadenti

BIG Integrate Programme

Fri, 01 Apr 2022 00:00:00 +0000

Overview

The BIG Integrate Programme was an ambitious initiative delivered under the BIG South London partnership to support SMEs in strengthening supply chains, with a focus on procurement, and embedding the principles of Community Wealth Building (CWB).

BIG Integrate is a fully funded supply chain management training programme for South London-based businesses and third sector organisations. It is a programme of support designed to give SMEs the knowledge and skills to develop their supply chain management, networks, and strategies with a focus on procurement and social value.

🔗 BIG Integrate Programme Website

📆 Duration and Funding

Funded by BIG South London partnership via the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames, the programme commenced in April 2022 and concluded in September 2023, with a total funding envelope of approximately £100,000.

Powered by the South London Partnership, a subregional collaboration of five London boroughs: Croydon, Kingston upon Thames, Merton, Richmond upon Thames and Sutton.

🏢 Lead Organisations

The programme was co-designed and delivered by:

London South Bank University (LSBU) Business School, providing academic leadership, student consultancy placements, and workshop delivery.
Crystalisr Co-operative Ltd., embedding community wealth building practices into procurement and platform design to establish a community of practice and market place for socially sustainable procurement practice.
Kingston University and Roehampton University, contributing to the student consultancy placements and supporting the Community Wealth Building pathway.

This multi-partner approach ensured the integration of academic expertise, practical delivery, and applied procurement knowledge.

🎯 Project Objectives

BIG Integrate was designed with a dual focus:

Supply Chain Optimisation – supporting SMEs to strengthen and sustain their supply chains, proving their role through the creation of social value, which enhances their competitiveness and makes them more attractive to Anchor Institutions.
Community Wealth Building – enabling SMEs to access public procurement opportunities and embed social value, overcoming barriers linked to complex tendering processes and limited resources.

Specifically, the programme aimed to:

Equip SMEs with practical tools in bidding, marketing, stakeholder engagement, and project management, with a focus on how to showcase social value.
Provide structured training to improve procurement readiness through the Fit to Supply and Fit to Bid models.
Place students within SMEs through small scale consultancy projects – acting as ‘mini-KTPs’ – to support growth and procurement development plans.
Establish a South London CWB Network, linking SMEs with anchor institutions and fostering collaboration across sub-regional supply chains.

Programme Structure

The programme was structured into three integrated elements:

1. SME Training and Development

Six workshops were delivered covering:

Supply Chain Fundamentals and the context for CWB
Supply Chain Readiness
Customer-Responsive Supply Chain and Product/Service Positioning
Fit to Bid (tender and bid writing)
Growth Planning
Networking and Meet-the-Buyer Event

2. Student Consultancy Placements

Postgraduate students from LSBU worked as junior business consultants (supervised by LSBU business school academics) with SMEs for five-day placements. These consultancies supported the development of bespoke business improvement plans, acting as short knowledge transfer projects.

3. Community Wealth Building Pathway and Network

A blended package of workshops, diagnostics, and mentoring enabled SMEs to join the Crystalisr Marketplace and become part of a Community of Practice. This pathway was closely aligned with the South London Anchor Network (SOLAN) and the London Anchor Institutions Network (LAIN), providing SMEs with real opportunities to pitch to anchor institutions and integrate into local procurement ecosystems.

📚 Theoretical Framework

The design of the programme was underpinned by several theoretical and applied frameworks:

Supply Chain Optimisation Theory – emphasising efficiency, responsiveness, cost reduction, and competitive advantage.
Community Wealth Building (CWB) – based on the Centre for Local Economic Strategies (CLES) model of progressive procurement, fair employment, socially productive use of land, and the redirection of wealth locally.
Public Procurement Theory – acknowledging the structural barriers that often exclude SMEs from institutional procurement and reframing access through training, mentoring, and anchor networks.
Fit to Supply / Fit to Bid Models – adapted from earlier pilots, demonstrating how targeted training and support can significantly increase SME confidence and success in competitive bidding.

🧑‍🏫 Delivery Team and Speakers

LSBU Internal Speakers and Facilitators:

Guest Speakers and Specialists:

Dr David Randall (also acting as facilitator for Crystalisr)
Mr Stephen Lamont
Jasbinder Sandhu (London Universities Purchasing Consortium)

Crystalisr Facilitators: Loic Autret and Alfred Widman

🚀 Impact, Outputs and Reach

Online Platform and Community of Practice (CoP)

A major output of the programme was the launch of the Crystalisr online platform and Community of Practice (CoP), which went live in the week beginning 21 November 2022.

Platform Functionality

The platform offers:

Community of Practice Tools – SME profiles, working groups, coordination tools, and model terms of reference.
Fitness-to-Supply Status Indicators.
Resources and Opportunity Listings.
Membership information, courses, events, open resources, and news.

Driving activity on the platform are Working Groups, partly aligned with BIG Innovation networks:

Business Services (Leader: Nicolle Anderson)
Health and Social Care (Leader: tbc)
Arts and Creative Industries (Leader: Loic Autret)
Built Environment and Low Carbon (Leader: tbc)
Markets, Data, Trust and Participation (Leader: David Randall)

Participation in the Programme

The BIG Integrate Programme was delivered in three distinct cohorts, ensuring that a diverse range of South London SMEs and third sector organisations could benefit from the training and support.

Across the three cohorts, more than 50 participants engaged with the modules delivered by LSBU Business School under the leadership of Dr Ficcadenti. Each cohort took part in the structured sessions on supply chain optimisation, procurement readiness, and business improvement planning.

Participation patterns varied: on average, Cohort 1 members attended around 2.5 sessions each, while Cohorts 2 and 3 recorded averages of 1.5 and 1.2 sessions respectively. Individual session attendance ranged from a maximum of 6–8, reflecting the varying capacity of SMEs to commit time during challenging trading periods.

Following the completion of the training modules, participants were channelled into two complementary pathways:

Some SMEs progressed to the Community Wealth Building (CWB) Pathway, where they were introduced to the Crystalisr online platform and the wider network of anchors and working groups.
Others were directed into the student consultancy pathway, engaging postgraduate students from LSBU in tailored consultancy projects. These acted as “mini-KTPs”, providing direct business improvement and supply chain development support.

This dual pathway ensured that every participant could benefit from a tailored form of support, depending on their readiness, needs, and opportunities within their supply chains.

Impact and Legacy

The BIG Integrate programme generated significant outcomes for SMEs and the wider South London economy:

New Service Design: Launch of a CWB procurement and CoP service integrated into the Crystalisr platform.
Collaborations: A foundation for long-term partnerships between SMEs, councils, and anchor institutions.
Student Consultancy Impact: Consultancy projects delivered, providing tailored growth and procurement readiness plans.
SME Benefits: Participants reported strengthened supply chain capacity, greater bidding confidence, and increased access to opportunities.
Network Legacy: Establishment of a South London Community of Practice, supported by Crystalisr’s platform and working groups.

🧩 Key Conclusions

BIG Integrate successfully combined academic expertise, practitioner facilitation, and anchor institution engagement to create a unique programme of SME support in South London. By addressing both supply chain efficiency and the principles of community wealth building, the programme enhanced procurement readiness while embedding social value within local economies.

The legacy of BIG Integrate continues through the Community of Practice, the Crystalisr platform, and strengthened relationships between SMEs and South London anchor institutions.

Wider Progress and Next Steps

Beyond the delivery of workshops and consultancies, Crystalisr has progressed in:

Anchors and Procurement – capitalising on the London Mayor’s target for anchors to procure 20% from London SMEs. A network of 16 anchor institutions has been created, representing £1.3bn in contracts.
South London Anchor Network – planned to create a shared document and vision for a coordinated South London Anchor Network.
Finance Pillar for CWB – developing mechanisms to attract patient capital and co-investment from pension funds, building societies, foundations, and family offices. Discussions were underway with CSBA and Banc Cambria to explore co-operative financial models.

BIG South London Innovation Voucher: Exploring the need for the Crystalisr Platform Stack

Thu, 01 Jul 2021 00:00:00 +0000

🏢 Lead Organisations

Lead Academic Partner: Dr Valerio Ficcadenti, London South Bank University (LSBU) – Business School
Lead Business Partner: Crystalisr Co-operative Society Limited (Dr David Randall)
Other Partners: Cordial World Foundation, Dr Vijak Haddadi, Barry James

📆 Duration and Funding

Start Date: 01 July 2021
End Date: 25 May 2022
Funding Programme: BIG South London Innovation Voucher Scheme
Funder: South London Partnership
Voucher Funding: £5,000
Business Match Funding: £5,000

🎯 Project Objectives

Study the need for an infrastructure hosted by Crystalisr cooperative platform, aiming at enabling local SMEs to access procurement opportunities.
Use text mining and AI technology to analyse procurement calls and social value needs among Anchor Institutions (AIs).
Investigate ‘social tokens’ to incentivise community participation on the platform and improve democratic involvement in local economic development.
Contribute to Community Wealth Building (CWB) by connecting SMEs with public and private institutions via a digital marketplace.

📚 Theoretical Framework

This project is grounded in the principles of Community Wealth Building (CWB), a transformative approach to local economic development that seeks to democratise the economy and ensure that wealth generated in a place stays in that place. At its core, CWB leverages the influence of Anchor Institutions—such as universities, hospitals, and local authorities—to redirect investment, procurement, employment, and asset ownership in ways that promote inclusive and sustainable local prosperity.

International Inspirations for Community Wealth Building

The project draws on internationally recognised models that have operationalised CWB principles in practice:

The Cleveland Model (USA)
Developed by The Democracy Collaborative, this model is centred on creating worker-owned cooperatives that serve the procurement needs of anchor institutions in disadvantaged neighbourhoods. It exemplifies CWB by institutionalising local hiring and democratic ownership structures, ensuring that the economic benefits of procurement circulate within the local community.
The Preston Model (UK)
Led by Preston City Council, this UK-based adaptation of CWB focuses on progressive procurement, local investment, and the development of cooperative businesses. It demonstrates how public sector anchors can rewire their spending to support local supply chains, build community assets, and foster a resilient local economy.
Caja Laboral & Mondragon Corporation (Spain)
Based in the Basque region, Mondragon represents a large-scale example of community-owned financial and industrial infrastructure. Caja Laboral, its cooperative bank, illustrates how local financial institutions can support long-term local development by aligning credit with social purpose, embodying CWB’s principle of local financial stewardship.

These cases showcase different but complementary pathways to building resilient local economies:

Cleveland demonstrates worker ownership and anchor-led demand for local services.
Preston highlights the power of anchor procurement and public policy.
Mondragon embodies financial mutualism and cooperative enterprise at scale.

CWB aims to redistribute wealth through local procurement, living wage policies, municipal enterprise, and community-owned finance.

🛠️ Methodology

Interpretivist approach using qualitative data from semi-structured interviews.
Conducted 9 interviews with 8 Anchor Institutions, covering 58 questions (open-ended + Likert scale).
Interviews explored: procurement strategies, software used, views on social value, and familiarity with CWB.
Data was analysed using thematic content analysis.

📊 Key Findings

Procurement is central: 88.8% rated it as very or extremely important.
Market fragmentation: There is no dominant platform. Tools used include Proactis, Delta eSourcing, ContractsFinder, and others.
Limited measurement of social value: Half of the organisations do not assess it; those who do use informal metrics or tools like EcoVadis.
Support for local SMEs: 75% stated local business support is important; 43% procure from SMEs over 100 times/year.
Barriers: Anchors struggle to identify and contact local SMEs. They rely on passive registration systems, creating informational silos.
Brokerage need: Crystalisr’s proposed brokerage service was welcomed to curate and connect prequalified SMEs with procurement needs.
Anchor Network: All interviewees endorsed the creation of a cross-institutional Anchor Network to coordinate and share best practices.

🧩 Narrative Conclusions

LSBU and Crystalisr successfully recorded the need for a digital platform to connect SMEs with Anchor Institutions.
The research confirmed the absence of a coherent anchor network and high demand for a unifying solution.
The CWB framework was embraced in theory, but implementation practices (e.g. social value metrics) remain underdeveloped.
The project validated the potential for Crystalisr to lead brokerage, training, and matchmaking initiatives in South London.
The study lays the groundwork for a social barometer, guiding the measurement and communication of social value in procurement.

🚀 Impact and Outputs

New Service: Service design for community wealth building integrated into the Crystalisr platform.
Collaborations: Established basis for the BIG Integrate project, building on the research findings to develop an integrated platform for community wealth building.