Early engagement

Loud and clear, there was a unanimous message from our focus group participants that offering greater certainty to the supply chain about upcoming work is a must if companies are to boost confidence around the deliverability of their capital programmes over the next decade and beyond.

Many admitted freely that offering this confidence and visibility of forthcoming work has not been business as usual, for a mixture of regulatory and procedural reasons. But all were looking to change.

Representatives from power transmission were well ahead of the game, with the Accelerated Strategic Transmission Investment (ASTI) programme having allowed unprecedented levels of forward planning and early engagement with supply chain.

But transmission representatives were not complacent. Looking beyond 2030 and the reach of the projects covered under the initial ASTI agreement, they said there is still a need to boost transparency about “that overall GB workbook beyond 2030”.

As well as placing an emphasis on the need for collaboration between the transmission operators (TO), this is fuelling efforts to extend and deepen newly established alliance relationships with key groups of suppliers and has also prompted the establishment of a new supply chain taskforce for one TO.

The picture at distribution level is much less mature overall. But there is a determination to break away from a relatively hand-to-mouth style of engagement with suppliers to a more planned and systematic way of working – notwithstanding challenges around supporting the costs associated making minimum order commitments to suppliers over a 10-year period, which is what some are looking at.

Adoption of alliance-style relationships with experienced suppliers and partners is a favoured approach to improvement across the board. And at distribution there is also a real focus on growing the pool of authorised local partners each company is working with at a tier 2 level.

As companies seek to provide a better forward look at the amount of work they have to offer suppliers and contractors, another key focus is on improving how easy networks are to do business with.

Becoming a “client of choice” was high on the priority list for all involved in the session and this is driving a focus on standardisation in procurement and design approaches as well as streamlining tendering processes.

While these changes are already being well received and making a difference to relationships with contractors, multiple focus group attendees said they found engagement with equipment manufacturers to be a hard nut to crack.

Getting ahead of ever-extending waiting lists for transformers, cables and more is a real worry. At transmission level, there is hope that further early funding assurance for strategic programme will allow for “capacity reservations” with key manufacturers.

This would allow TOs more ability to “get tickets in the queue” for manufacturing slots with upfront deposits and further milestone payments up to a reasonable timeframe ahead of delivery when final technical specifications and requirements would need clarifying.