Three programmes, with the results as they were measured rather than as they would look best.
Clients are described by sector and scale rather than named, because published results need their permission. We can arrange an introduction to a reference in your sector on request.
Government, federal
Category management transformation
A UAE federal ministry, procuring for more than 30 government entities · 2020 to 2023
40+categories strategically sourced
3xgrowth in the awarded supplier base
18xgrowth in catalogue items on the platform
3 to 40%+savings range across categories
The situation
Procurement ran across more than thirty federal entities with no shared category strategy, a narrow supplier base and a catalogue that covered a fraction of what the government actually bought. The entities were also moving onto a new national Digital Procurement Platform, so the work had to land inside that transition rather than alongside it.
What we did
Spend analysis and profiling across all 30+ entities
Category strategies built from market assessment, not from the incumbent list
Competitive tenders across 40+ categories in three sourcing waves
Negotiation and best and final offer rounds on every wave
Supplier selection weighted to SMEs and in-country value compliance
Catalogue integration onto the national Digital Procurement Platform
What changed
The number of categories delivering cost savings rose more than fourfold
SME suppliers selected roughly doubled, and more than a hundred ICV-compliant SMEs were onboarded
More than 90 per cent of categories achieved measurable savings
The programme completed in full, ahead of plan
Insurance, Saudi Arabia
Raising procurement maturity to an independent global standard
A leading Saudi insurance group, Riyadh · 2026, in delivery
5gap areas addressed in a single engagement
3 monthsfrom kickoff in Riyadh to assessment readiness
Weeklyco-creation reviews with the procurement team
The situation
An independent maturity assessment found a procurement function already operating at a level comparable with leading enterprises across most of what the standard covers. This was a strong function, not a broken one. Five areas carried the whole of the remaining gap: sustainable procurement, identification and management of key suppliers, category and sourcing strategy, continuous improvement, and risk management. A re-assessment was already booked, so the work had to produce evidence an external assessor would accept, on a three-month clock, without pulling the team off its day job.
What we did
A sustainable procurement framework and implementation plan aligned to Saudi Vision 2030 and local content expectations
A supplier code of conduct, a prequalification questionnaire, an RFP sustainability section with scoring, and a contract sustainability appendix
Sustainability written into one of the group's live tenders as a worked example, so the team saw it applied rather than described
A supplier segmentation and key supplier review process, tiered by criticality, risk and spend
A category management playbook, reusable strategy templates, and one fully worked category strategy
A supplier development and continuous improvement framework, with two template packs and a worked example
A risk toolkit that carries the group's existing enterprise risk framework into category strategy, sourcing and contract management
Every deliverable mapped to the standard's criteria, so the evidence pack was built as the work went rather than assembled at the end
What changed
Sustainability requirements now sit inside live tender documents, not in a policy that nobody opens
Each workstream shipped with a short how to start guide and a template pack, so the team runs it without us
The colleague who ran the diagnostic was kept out of delivery, so assessment and implementation stayed independent
Weekly reviews with the procurement team, and on-site in Riyadh at kickoff, mid-point and assessment readiness
The re-assessment falls later in 2026. The rating is awarded by an external body, so we make no claim here about the outcome
Banking, central bank
Procurement governance, policy and process design
A GCC central bank
The situation
The bank needed a procurement framework that would satisfy both federal procurement law and its own internal governance standards, and it needed the people across procurement, finance and the business to actually follow it. A policy nobody uses is the usual outcome of this kind of project.
What we did
A procurement policy aligned to federal procurement law and internal governance
Standard operating procedures covering the process end to end, with roles, responsibilities and approval workflows
Interviews and workshops across departments, so the process matched how the bank works rather than how a template assumes it does
Global procurement best practice adapted for a public sector and regulated environment
A digital marketplace for non-catalogue, low-value purchases
Training and user guides for procurement, finance and requesting departments
What changed
Adoption was designed in through workshops and training rather than handled as a final-week handover
Low-value, non-catalogue spend moved onto a managed digital route
Questions we get asked
Why are the clients not named?
Publishing a client's results needs their permission, and we would rather show you real numbers anonymously than a named logo with nothing behind it. We can arrange an introduction to a reference in your sector on request.
Are these figures audited?
They come from the figures recorded and reported to the client at the close of each programme. They are given as multiples rather than raw counts, because a precise supplier or item count would identify a client we have agreed to keep anonymous, and every multiple is rounded down rather than up. The savings range is stated as a range across categories, from 3 per cent to over 40 per cent, because a single blended number would flatter the work and tell you less.
Do you work outside the public sector?
Yes, and most of our client base is private sector. Two of the three here are public sector simply because they are the programmes with results we can publish in this form. Ask us about work closer to your own sector and we will talk it through directly.
Do you work in Saudi Arabia?
Yes. The insurance programme above is delivered out of Riyadh, with a mix of on-site workshops and remote delivery, and aligned to Saudi Vision 2030 and local content expectations.
What size of organisation do you usually work with?
From a single business unit to a federal government programme spanning more than thirty entities. What decides the fit is whether the addressable spend justifies the engagement, not headcount.
Where to start
Run the free procurement maturity diagnostic for a scored view of where the gaps are, or talk to a consultant about this specific problem. Both take less time than a meeting about having a meeting.
